• Speakers demand withdrawal of new bill
• Calls for administrative, financial powers for LGs
• JI stays away from MQM-P event

KARACHI: Participants of a multiparty conference, organised by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan on Saturday, unanimously rejected “one-sided” amendments to the local government bill saying the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party was creating an atmosphere of hopelessness, sense of deprivation and alienation among the people.

Almost all big and smaller political parties participated in the MPC. The Jamaat-i-Islami was invited but it chose to stay away from the event. The PPP, Pak Sarzameen Party and Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi were not invited to the conference.

A resolution was presented by senior MQM-P leader Amir Khan and it was unanimously passed calling upon the PPP government to immediately withdraw the amended bill.

It denounced and rejected the LG bill on the ground that it goes against Article 140-A of the Constitution. It said that the 2013 LG system is still hurting Sindh. It called for political, monetary and administrative power for the local government organisations.

Mr Khan demanded in the resolution that a committee be set up to send in its suggestions to have a proper LG system that caters to all needs of the people.

It called for all resources of Sindh to be distributed in Sindh first. And finally, it said that the people should believe that until this happens, all the parties present at the MPC will carry on fighting for the proper system as per the Constitution.

At the outset, senior MQM-P leader Senator Faisal Subzwari said: “The purpose of this conference is to hold a consultation of all political stakeholders to review Sindh government’s newly amended ‘anti-people’ Local Government Bill of 2021, and subsequently announce a combined strategy.

Former finance minister Dr Miftah Ismail of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) said that he congratulated the PPP government in Sindh for being able to get power for the provincial government from the federal government. “But then this should continue as the provincial government needs to pass on the power to the local government in order to be able to reach out to the people,” he said.

“That’s the right way to extend services to the people. It would be better to set aside our political motives and designate work to the local governments as revenue generation goes to the divisions. That’s how you can fix the system,” he said.

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) joined in via Zoom to point out that the topic of discussion had not been taken up too seriously so far. “If there wasn’t any pressure from the courts here, we might not even hold local government elections,” he said.

“Sindh’s system is disabling. The Supreme Court should look into this, which it will hopefully. The Senate, too, should notice this. If you live in Sindh and want what’s best for it, then you need to understand that the local governments need administrative powers to serve the people here so give them their constitutional rights. The people, too, need to be made aware of their rights and motivated and mobilised to ask for it. The sooner this is understood the better,” he said.

Shahi Syed of the Awami National Party (ANP) said it is good to sit together and look for solutions to problems that ail Karachi.

Aslam Ghori of the Jamiat Ulma-i-Islam-Fazl said: “There is a disconnect. The Sindh Assembly should make laws for the betterment of the people, not for ruling over them or stepping over them.”

Jillan Shah of Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) said: “The premise of this bill is that the present government does not want a census. So it is a game being played against us.”

Tariq Hasan of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) said: “There are property issues, water and sanitation issues. I believe the mayor should be heading the water board here. If you want the issues of Karachi to be resolved then you need to bring the institutions here under the mayor.”

Dr Saleem Haider of the Mohajir Ittehad Tehreek (MIT) said: “We had thought that if the provincial government failed us then we can look to the federal government. But here both have failed us. Both have brought us to situation where we can be pitied. Here Karachi’s children are running from pillar to post for domiciles to get admissions into colleges.”

Basharat Mirza of the Pakistan Democratic Party (PDP) said that Karachi was never given it’s due by any government.

Fahimudddin Sheikh of the Pakistan Sunni Tehreek (PST) said that the LG bill was squashing the rights of all the citizens of Karachi.

Irfanullah Marwat, Allama Sadiq Jafri of Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen, Irfan Memon of All Pakistan Muslim League, retired Justice Wajiuddin Ahmed of Aam Aadmi Party also spoke among many others.

MQM-P convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui thanked all the participants. He said all stakeholders in the MPC unanimously expressed their lack of confidence on the PPP government.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2021