Daily Times

PPP Chairperson and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Thursday said he was honored for the “trust reposed in me and my party by the people of Pakistan”. “In a historic first, PPP mayors were elected in Karachi and Hyderabad. The most progressive local bodies set up in South Asia with women, minorities, labourers, farmers, and the khawaja sira communities represented in local govt,” he tweeted.

Bilawal dedicated win to the party’s martyrs and thanked the nation. “God willing, we will fulfill your expectations … this is the first step, we will move forward and also win general elections,” he said. Separately, in a statement issued by PPP’s Media Cell, Bilawal congratulated Wahab. He said PPP’s victory today did not just belong to the party but the entire country. “This success is the result of the long struggle and sacrifices of the jiyalas of Karachi.”

The statement quoted Bilawal as saying that the local government problems of every street, neighborhood, and area of Karachi would be “solved without discrimination”. The PPP’s Media Cell also quoted party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari congratulating all mayors, deputy mayors, district councilors, and “town’s chairman and deputy chairman”. Especially conveying his felicitations to Wahab, the tweet quoted Zardari as saying, “The success of local elected representatives is the result of the workers’ hard work.” He also directed the victors to start their work from today.

In an official statement, Sindh Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah also congratulated, saying, “Today, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s vision of a jiyala becoming a mayor has won.” On the other hand, talking to the media in Karachi, Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon termed the JI a “fascist party”. He said they were allowed to protest peacefully but warned of taking action if they took the law into their own hands. “A fascist party like the Jamaat handed weapons to students,” he said. Memon claimed the JI “wanted the PPP to get them votes from the PTI”. He asked, “If the PTI supporters are sitting at their homes [and] no one is voting [for them] then what can we do?”

The PPP leader asserted, “If the JI would do hooliganism, we will not let anyone take the law into their hands. They can hold peaceful protests within the law. If anyone does vandalism, then the law will come into action.”