Mustafa Kamal accuses PPP of initiating division of Sindh by dividing Karachi on ethnic grounds

Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) Chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal on Thursday accused the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of formally starting the division of Sindh by dividing the provincial capital Karachi on ethnic grounds into six districts.

He said that as the division of Sindh was not acceptable, so was the division of Karachi. He expressed these views while addressing a press conference at the Pakistan House. PSP President Anis Kaimkhani and officials of the central executive Committee and national council of the party were also present on the occasion.

The biased, incompetent and corrupt PPP-led Sindh government is damaging the fabric of the country to the extent that no enemy of Pakistan could have done it on its own, Kamal remarked.

He added that people of Sindh were deprived of basic amenities and so they were more prone to be maliciously manipulated by RAW-sponsored anti-national elements. According to him, Karachi, the economic jugular vein of Pakistan, could become a security threat due to the biased attitude of the PPP-led provincial government.

What could be a bigger disaster as the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was forced to clean the drains of Karachi, Kamal said, adding that the work by the NDMA would definitely be the first aid to Karachi but it was not the cure.

If the army also failed to clean Karachi now, whom would the nation look up to in crises? The PSP chief asked. He said Sindh was a province of Pakistan and not another state where the federation could not intervene.

He asked Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa to come to Karachi and remain here until the Sindh government solved the problems of Pakistan's economic lifeline.

He recalled that earlier Karachi comprised 18 towns functioning under one district and it was the best example of decentralisation.

Blaming also the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) for the issues of the city, Kamal said the so-called sympathisers of Karachi and Hyderabad who had been misleading the people by crying over lack of authority and resources were part of the PPP provincial cabinet on October 31, 2013, when they themselves handed over the authority and resources of the local governments to the provincial government. At that time MQM had 12 ministers and advisers and the governor of Sindh was also from the party, Kamal recalled.

Pointing out the fact that four district municipal corporations of the city were controlled by the MQM, he said the MQM controlled four of the six districts of Karachi. He alleged that local bodies’ funds had been embezzled on a massive scale.

These are the last moments of the local government system and billions of rupees that had been plundered in the local bodies need to be investigated, he said.

The PSP chief maintained that citizens of Karachi and Hyderabad were afraid that their mayors and deputy mayors would flee the country. He called for putting their names on the Exit Control List.

The people of Karachi had not been robbed by thieves but by their watchmen, he remarked, adding that handing over Karachi to the federation or the army was not the solution to the city’s problems.

The prime minister would not build roads on his own, he said, adding that the purpose of the 18th constitutional amendment was not to make the chief minister autonomous but to make the districts constituting the provinces autonomous.

The authority and resources that the provinces got due to the 18th amendment should reach every nook and cranny of the country, Kamal said, adding that it should not be at the discretion of the chief ministers to transfer the powers and resources to the districts.

He called for the implementation of a provincial finance commission award to ensure that funds are transferred to the districts.

Only if the destruction of Karachi was checked and its wounds healed, the city alone could generate Rs8,000 billion for Pakistan, Kamal said. He also condemned the terrorist attack on the rally of Jamaat-e-Islami the previous day. He prayed for the departed soul, injured and the affected families.