“We will have our mayor, so we will celebrate,” he said at a press conference in Karachi on Sunday that focused on the local government elections and national politics. “Don’t celebrate if you are not going to be mayor.”

Ghani added that the result of the local bodies election in Karachi was not surprising, but it was ‘shocking’ how many seats Jamaat-e-Islami had managed to grab.

“Jamaat-e-Islami’s seats increased, they should be thankful,” Ghani said.

He said that the opposition had supported the amendments made to the local bodies law, but the JI was now going back on its word. He added that JI leaders were ‘habitual liars’.

Ghani also took on Imran Khan who recently got bail from the Islamabad High Court after the Supreme Court ruled his arrest illegal. He said that PTI protestors had been ‘incited’ to violence over Imran’s arrest, but the PTI chief was now denying any responsibility since he was under custody.

He also criticised Imran for following an ‘enemy agenda’ and said that the Supreme Court had wished good luck to those who had vandalised state property on May 9.

He added that Imran Khan had followed a similar path when he declared a civil disobedience movement in 2014.

“Even the TTP could not do what Imran has managed to do,” he said.