All CMs act like dictators, do not disburse funds to local govts, alleges PSP

Calling for a new socio-political order for the development of the country, Pak Sarzameen Party leaders said on Wednesday the existing political framework had decayed and was a threat to national security.

PSP supremo Mustafa Kamal said the so-called democratic political parties became “followers of dictatorship” as soon as they came into power, while all four chief ministers acted as if they were dictators.

He was talking to the media after a NAB court appearance in Karachi. PSP President Anis Kaimkhani and members of the party’s National Council and the PSP Lawyers Forum were also present on the occasion.

Kamal said the 18th constitutional amendment was designed to make the provincial districts autonomous. “Powers and resources were to be transferred to cities, villages, goths and to street level, but on the contrary, all powers and resources have been confined to the Chief Minister’s House.”

“The current system is not only rotten but has become a threat to Pakistan’s security. A change of system is essential for the development of Pakistan, a new socio-political agreement is needed, the rulers must also change their style of governing.”

The PSP chief said repealing the 18th amendment was being discussed today because the provinces received funds through the NFC, but they did not bother to transfer them to the district level. Karachi was the “revenue engine of Pakistan and if Karachi is destroyed, the whole of Pakistan will be destroyed”, he said and warned that the growing problems of Karachi had become an issue of national security.

He asked if the prime minister adopted the same attitude of giving funds to his favourite province instead of distributing the monetary share equally to all provinces, how the country would run. Powers and resources should not be at the discretion of the chief minister to give funds to the districts, he said, stressing that this money was not the personal property of the chief ministers but of the people of the nation. This style of politics had caused an irreparable damage to the country, especially to Karachi, the economic lifeline of Pakistan, he said.

PSP flays PPP

Pak Sarzameen Party Chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal accused the Pakistan Peoples Party-led Sindh government of manipulating the Sindhi-speaking community’s sentiments to prolong its rule, as well as of resorting to the conventional politics of ethnicity.

The PPP used to make the Sindhi-speaking people frightened by saying that the MQM’s slogan of a Muhajir province would be tantamount to tearing Sindh into pieces, and now it was doing the same ethnic politics by spreading rumors of the handing over of Karachi to the federal government, he said while addressing a meeting of members of the Central Executive Committee and the National Council at the Pakistan House. President Anis Kaim Khani was also present on the occasion.

“Our Sindhi brethren across Sindh are being told by the PPP that Sindh is being fragmented by handing over Karachi to the federal government, while no direct statement has been issued by the federal government in this regard so far. By doing so, the Sindh government wants to prolong its rule by hiding its incompetence and corruption,” said Kamal.

Karachi was the first capital of Pakistan but it was administratively made part of Sindh in 1970. The PSP has been saying since day one that Sindh should not be divided by fanning an ethnic fire against the will of the people of Sindh, but it has become inevitable to find an administrative solution to Karachi’s problems because the Sindh government’s prejudice has led to the fragmentation of Karachi, the economic lifeline of the country, into six districts on administrative grounds, according to a statement issued by the PSP.

“The division of Sindh is unacceptable, so is the bifurcation of Karachi. The PSP will never let this ethnic fire engulf the province. It has emerged as the best political alternative to the people across Sindh, which is the real voice of every deprived individual -- children to elders from Karachi to Kashmore.”

It was unanimously decided in the meeting that the PSP would intensify its activities to extinguish the fire of hatred in the province and create awareness among the people regarding the current situation.