Daily Times

KARACHI: The mayor and deputy mayor elected to serve the metropolis seem reluctant to accompany Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah during his visits to different areas of the city for uplift works, Daily Times has learnt.

Both Mayor Waseem Akhtar and Deputy Mayor Arshad Abdullah Vohra have avoided accompanying the chief executive of the province in more than 28 tours of the city since he took office as the chief minister. Akhtar was arrested in July and was accused of facilitating the May 12, 2007 carnage when he was the provincial home minister, resulting in a bloody massacre.

He is also facing charges of sedition and arranging medical care for alleged terrorists. Akhtar, a former minister and parliamentarian of the influential Muttahida Qaumi Movement; won the polls to become the mayor in August this year by a landslide win with 196 of the total 294 votes by municipal authorities.

According to sources, Deputy Mayor Dr Arshad Vohra resumed the office on August 31, 2016 while the mayor was behind the bars in many cases. The mayor got released from the prison on bail and he has also resumed the office on November 17, 2016.

The chief minister had announced a Rs 10 billion Karachi package that includes repair and rehabilitation of various roads, bridges, flyovers, launching of public transport system etc. However, the mayor asked the authorities to handover the Karachi package to him so that they could go into the masses, sources added.

“We have to set aside our differences. Karachi has a mayor, a deputy mayor, a chairman and a vice chairman after eight years. We will have to work together for the betterment of this city and this province. We know Karachi is plagued by a number of issues. These problems are our problems and requested all those elected to set aside their differences for the progress of the metropolis,” Akhtar had said during his oath taking ceremony.

According to analysts, the mayor must respect the chief minister of the province and inform him about the issues of the Karachiites. “Mustafa Kamal (former city nazim and now Pak Sarzameen Party chief) used to make himself available at the sight of visits by higher authorities,” they said.