Jailed MQM leader Waseem Akhtar takes oath as Karachi mayor

Karachi [Pakistan], Aug. 30 : Jailed Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader (MQM) Waseem Akhtar on Tuesday took oath as Karachi's mayor and Arshad Vohra as his deputy at Bagh-i-Quaid-i-Azam.

Akhtar is among four mayors and 200 chairmen of as many municipal bodies across Sindh who took oath of their offices today, reports the Dawn.

Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) Commissioner Samiuddin Siddiqui administered oath to Akhtar and Vohra.

Akhtar reportedly opened his speech with a slogan of "Long live Muttahida, long live Bhutto and long live Imran Khan." The MQM leader is said to be the first person in the country to have won the mayoral election from prison against his rival candidate pitted by a six-party alliance formed to contest against his party.

He has been in prison since July 19 after an Anti-Terrorism Court dismissed his pre-arrest interim application in a case for treatment of terrorists.

He will run the metropolis via "video link" from his prison cell..

Source: ANI