• Mustafa Kamal alleges PPP introduced culture of ‘loot and plunder’
• Mayor Wahab says MQM-P allegations contradict Kamal’s earlier stance on uplift work in Sindh during Zardari’s tenure

KARACHI: The war of words between the opposition Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party intensified on Saturday as both sides traded allegations and counter allegations over the state of the province.

The verbal spat between the two parties began on July 1 when MQM-P chairman Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui held a press conference to hail a decision of the Sindh High Court that scrapped the recruitment process in the provincial government’s 140 departments.

Dr Siddiqui had criticised the intentions of PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto behind introducing the urban-rural quota only in Sindh when he was the prime minister.

The PPP reacted quickly and its several leaders and ministers addressed angry press conferences to denounce the MQM-P. The episode continued for three days, however it appeared later that both the sides had agreed on a ceasefire.

On Saturday, senior MQM-P leader Syed Mustafa Kamal fired another salvo at the PPP when he held a press conference in response to Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah’s recent “Sindh Vision” presentation in which the CM had claimed robust development in Karachi and other parts of the province during the over 15-year rule in three consecutive terms of the PPP government in Sindh.

The PPP gave a prompt response and rejected all the allegations in a press conference held by Sindh government spokesperson and Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab.

‘Bundle of lies’

Questioning the performance of the PPP government in Sindh, the MQM-P leader rejected all claims made by the chief minister.

“If you do good, we would praise you. But you haven’t done anything good in these long years. All yours claims are a bundle of lies,” Mr Kamal told journalists present at the party office called Pakistan House.

He said that the PPP had claimed to have spent billions and trillions of public money on Sindh, but the fate of this province and its people remained unchanged, or rather it had turned worst.

He referred to spending of Rs3.2 trillion over the years under the head of education budget and added that still the standard of education in the province “is worst in the country”.

“After spending trillions of rupees, some 7.6 million children are still out of school. Don’t we have or the people of this province have right to question about these Rs3.2 trillion of public money? Where has all this money gone? Why millions of my children are out of school?” he questioned.

He then cited expenses of Rs1.7 trillion by the Sindh health department which, he said, was “performing below average despite consuming huge funds”.

“And don’t forget that a large chunk of the funding which is spent on government hospitals comes from donors and philanthropists. If you minus them for a second, these facilities aren’t getting anything from the government,” claimed Mr Kamal.

The MQM-P press conference prompted PPP spokesman and Karachi Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab to come up with his party’s side of the story.

In response to the MQM-P’s allegations, Mr Wahab accused the past ruling partner of “terrorising” citizens and introducing the trend of “China cutting” — a term used for encroaching amenity plots and public spaces for commercial and residential purposes — in Karachi.

Wahab rejects MQM-P criticism, recounts party successes

At a press conference on Saturday, Sindh government spokesperson and Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab responded to Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan leader Mustafa Kamal’s earlier statements and said that the MQM-P accused the PPP of not doing any work in the province, despite Mr Kamal recently acknowledging PPP’s role in development during Asif Zardari’s tenure.

The mayor said that the PPP was working for the uplift of the province, including Karachi, which made their opponents nervous. “People from 117 cities come to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for treatment,” he said, adding that the provincial government had given a grant of Rs20billion to SIUT in this year’s budget.

He said that a grant of Rs2.5bn was given to the Indus Hospital. “Our goal is to serve people, and we will continue to do so,” he added.

The mayor that when Mustafa Kamal was the nazim of the city, a large number of people were killed. “There was bloodshed in the city, firing was also carried out at the office of a private channel and in the same period, China cutting was done on the land of sewage treatment plant in Mehmoodabad,” he added.

The mayor said that the Baldia factory tragedy happened during the term of Mr Kamal as nazim. “He allowed people to build houses and shops on the drains, which affected the drainage system badly,” he added.

Coming down heavily on the MQM-P leader, who was also a former city mayor, Barrister Wahab said that the entire city was submerged and 200 people died in only 60mm rains when Mr Kamal was nazim of the city. “Not a single person lost life, nor was the city closed in 1,100mm rain in 2022.”

He referred to Mr Kamal’s statement that he had spent Rs300bn on the uplift of the city and said that if such a huge amount had been spent on the city, there would have been no water shortage and liabilities of billions of rupees against the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation.

The mayor said that the provincial government was making all-out efforts to resolve the problems of the city, including water shortage. “We are bringing a new line from Hub Canal to solve the water problems,” he added.

He also said that provincial government was giving employment to the youth of the province, but the MQM-P moved the court and closed the door of employment.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2024