HYDERABAD: A joint declaration adopted at the ‘Shehri Conference’ by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Hyderabad chapter and the local business community here on Sunday rejected the Local Bodies Amendment Bill 2021, saying that the amendments made to the 2013 law were directly in conflict with the Article 140-A of the Constitution. It termed the new law ‘insult to democracy’, ‘anti-people’ and ‘anti-Sindh’, and called for its repeal.

The conference titled Sindh ka baldiyati kala qanoon 2021 aur shehri masail was held at a banquet and was attended by representatives of the business community of Hyderabad, Latifabad and Qasimabad. It was chaired by MQM-P deputy convener and former Hyderabad district nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil.

The declaration said that Pakistan Peoples Party’s biased governance had been a source of unrest and disappointment to people over the past 50 years. It led to a sense of alienation, which is bound to deepen after the enactment. The 2013 law is reflective of PPP’s political mala fide intention and concentration of powers that has led to political, economic and administration decay in districts of Sindh.

It called for introduction of the local government system enshrined under the Article 140-A that called for political, administrative and financial responsibilities for local bodies. It demanded formation of a committee comprising representatives of all political parties to draft recommendations for a new local bodies act to be forwarded to the Sindh Assembly. The new law should be in line with fundamental rights of people and reflective of their aspirations.

Joint declaration issued at ‘Shehri Conference’

The declaration said that local bodies/governments should politically, financially and administratively empowered. Provinces should distribute resources under the ‘provincial finance commission’ on the pattern of the National Finance Commission Award. It resolved to continue legal and constitutional struggle for rural and urban population till a true and empowered local bodies system was enforced.

Hyderabad Chamber of Small Traders and Small Industries president Altaf Memon noted that the fresh amendments to the LG law caused anguish among political parties.

He urged Sindh government to take political parties, trade bodies, members of civil society and other stakeholders into confidence on the new law. This law should not be enforced as long as all stakeholders approved it.

Hyderabad Site Association of Trade and Industry chairman Saman Mal said infrastructure of 300 industries in the SITE area had crumbled as buffalo pens, encroachments and broken roads dotted the landscape. He said the market committee fee was recovered from industrialists but no facilities were provided.

He said that only one provincial minister, Mohammad Ali Malkani, had done something for industrialists though four ministers had held this portfolio. He said the Muttahida MPA, Nadeem Siddiqui, a businessman, effectively represented them in the assembly. He said industrialists would support the party’s voice on this issue.

Qasimabad Business Forum chairman Rahmatullah Saand said traders of this taluka would support their counterparts from other areas. He said Kanwar Naveed Jamil had executed an unprecedented development works in Qasimabad as the district nazim. He said everyone was disappointed to see the present state of Rani Bagh, which was developed by Mr Jamil by spending millions of rupees.

Anjuman Tajiran Phulelli Bazaar leader Masroor Anwar Butt said education and health facilities in cities had been destroyed during the PPP rule over the province. He said people of Hyderabad had been denied jobs, local government facilities had been snatched and streets had become ponds of sewage.

MNA Sabir Kaimkhani presented an eight-point agenda of conference. He said the LG law 2001 was exemplary. He said PPP was out to centralise powers so much so that people had started describing chief minister as ‘chief mayor’. He said his party did not talk about a division of the province, but it was PPP that had divided it on rural and urban grounds.

Kanwar Naveed Jamil accused PPP of trying to conquer people of urban centres in Sindh because it could not win from there. He said PPP’s approach towards these cities was in no way Sindh- and Pakistan-friendly. He said seeking rights for Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Mir­purkhas and Nawabshah had been made an offence.

He said that Karachi contributed 96pc of Sindh’s revenues and 70pc of federal taxes.

He said Muttahida’s petition on the implementation of Article 140-A had been pending before the judiciary for five years now. “If our stance is wrong, then the petition be decided against us,” he said, adding that his party’s petition on census had also been pending since 2016. “Where should we go now?”, he asked.

Several other speakers, including Faizan Illahi, Doulatram Lohano, Hissam Baig, Mohammad Arif, Seth Goharullah, Gulshan Illahi, Arif Madni, Javed Iqbal and Yaqoob Sheikh also spoke.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2021