MQM-P legislators decry water shortage, rising street crime

Lawmakers belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan on Monday protested in the Sindh Assembly against street crime and a persisting water shortage in the city during the budget speech of Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah.

They held placards and posters inscribed with slogans related to the issues of water shortage and rising incidents of criminal activities in Karachi.

The MQM-P lawmakers started the protest as soon as the CM started his budget speech. They stood up from their seats and displayed placards.

They were of the view that some residential areas of the city had been facing a severe water shortage for several months. They decried that the residents of Karachi should not be made to suffer due to the non-availability of water.

The MQM-P legislators also raised the issue of rising street crimes in the city due to which dozens of citizens were deprived of their cash, mobile phones and other valuable items on a daily basis. They demanded that the government tackle the issue on a war footing.

The MPAs continued their protest in the house for 10 minutes. They also moved towards treasury benches in during the protest but later resumed their seats.

The parliamentary party of the MQM-P, Kanwar Naveed Jamil, however, did not participate in the protest and remained seated.

PTI’s criticism

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) parliamentary leader Haleem Adil Shaikh, while talking to media personnel after the Sindh Assembly session, criticised the provincial government for failing to perform in various sectors.

“Those who had presented 10 consecutive provincial budgets have now presented this time a half budget,” said the PTI leader.

Shaikh claimed that the Sindh government had spent Rs103 billion on health projects, but despite that vaccines for treating snakebite could not be found in any public health facility in the interior of Sindh.

He also censured the government for the closure of 6,000 schools in Sindh. Children were dying in Thar due to malnourishment and drought, Shaikh said, adding that nobody knew what became of 700 reverse osmosis plants installed in Thar by the government.

The construction of new dams had become necessary for the country, the PTI leader said. He, however, maintained that the status of Diamer-Bhasha and Kalabagh dams were altogether different.

Regarding the issue of giving Pakistani nationality to Bengalis living in Sindh, he said no harm would be caused to the national interests if Pakistani nationality was accorded to around 250,000 aliens living in the country.