Sindh’s contribution to KTP

While welcoming the prime minister ‘s Karachi package titled “Karachi Transformation Plan” with total out lay of more than Rs1100 billion , Chairman Bilawal Bhutto announced in a rally last week in Karachi that the Sindh government would contribute major share in the ‘ Plan’ amounting to Rs800 billion as against of federal government’s 300 billion. He further demanded that the federal government should open its heart and wallet and help the victims of the torrential rain in Karachi in particular and of the province in general in view of the huge losses suffered by people of the province. The chief minister and his Cabinet ministers though had reached out to the grief-stricken people of the province expressing total solidarity with them with unequivocal assurance that they would not be left alone and all possible assistance would be extended by the provincial government to mitigate their sufferings. In such cataclysmic situation, it is the obligation of the federal government also to help the federating units to save the lives and properties of the people followed by gigantic endeavours to rebuild the infrastructure in order to bring the life back to normal. The prime minister may also be pleased to announce due compensation for the farmers of Sindh province, and indeed for the other provinces and Northern Areas, whose crops have been totally destroyed by the rain and massive rain waters. Timing is the essence that may make qualitative difference in helping out the rain victims.

It sounded like a pleasing music for the people, against all hopes, that the prime minister was earnestly talking in the same breath of cooperation and coordination in a meetings held in Karachi last week where Sindh chief minister was in attendance who sitting next to him at the Governor House. The pleasant tone and tenor were witnessed by all during the follow up meetings between the prime minister and the MQM and the (GDA). While announcing the Provincial ‘Coordination and Implementation Committee’ headed by the Sindh chief minister, the prime minister reiterated that both the short term and long terms projects, focused to alleviate the miseries of the residents of Karachi, would be completed in the mega city in a spirit of cooperation, accommodation and understanding. The committee would facilitate and take decisions in consultation with other stakeholders to overcome the hurdles in the way of development and execution of the projects. It was in sync with the democratic modus operandi, the fundamentals of which were cooperation not confrontation, reconciliation not brinkmanship and engagement not isolation. Regretfully, the PTI leadership had been mainly relying on the politics that was largely judged as devoid of democratic practices. The vicious drive against political opponents under the guise of accountability had attracted the scorn right across as being discriminatory. The Supreme Court in its recent landmark judgment also judged accountability only meant for the political opponents while those who were on the other side of the equation were spared. It is well known that discriminatory application of law explicitly means state is in war against itself in the final analysis.

The prime minister while highlighting the importance of cooperation candidly qualified his statement by arguing that the spirit of cooperation and coordination brought about unexpected and pleasing results in containing the COVID-19 contagious. It obviously implied that there was no reason that the emulating of the same model would not embrace same results pertaining to solving the problems of Karachi. ‘Coordinated effort’ is the promise to success.

Whiff of fresh air as the prime minister earlier had telephoned Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah assuring him all out federal government’s support to solve Karachi problems that had been aggravated over the decades. The catastrophic situation, generally believed, was the result of the misplaced competition and unwarranted interventions of the competing forces resulting in unforgiving downward spiral in almost all walks of the mega city life. Undoubtedly, the too much politicking might be responsible for the plight of the commercial hub of the country. However, these are not times to waste time on fixing the responsibility for the all sort of mess, but to take action to get the metropolis out of pathetic conditions that had been taking heavy toll on all facets of life of Karachi -- the commercial and the financial hub of the country. Let us hope and pray that the better sense of collaboration and coordination will continue to prevail at all stages, from panning to execution, of the various projects meant to make the metropolis a place worth living again.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto had rightly urged the federal government to generously allocate funds to get Karachi out of vicious circle of problems in particular and of Sindh province in general. There is dire need on the part of all stakeholders, PPP, PTI and MQM, to push the politics on the back burner in this case, at least, and focus to address issues of Karachi after realising the agony of the people who have been going through it during the recent unprecedented torrential rains completely paralysing the day to day life of Karachi. Its accumulative impact on the country’s economy is not difficult to imagine.

Political will embodied in unity, sincere commitment and coordination is crucial to success as was in the case of containing the COVID-19 in the country. The prime minister acknowledged this while underscoring the importance of all stakeholders to be on the same page that would surely pave the way to success even in a very complicated situation like in Karachi. It became only possible after the surge of infection forced the other provinces to take the initiative in their own hands. They decided to lockdown the respective provinces like of the government of Sindh notwithstanding the federal government leadership’s opposition to the total lockdown. As the scale of pandemic surged exponentially so there was change of the mind at the policy level that sought redemption in seeking the active cooperation of all the stakeholders instead of relying on getting-it- alone. Resultantly, though late epiphany, the institutional framework was evolved representing all the provinces to launch coordinated campaign against the virus led by Asad Umar, Minister for Planning, as the chief coordinator. The pleasing results could not be better as the menace was largely now on the back-foot giving the reason of cautious optimism. The same model maybe emulated to tackle the very complex problems of Karachi keeping in view the betterment of residents of Karachi, economy and indeed of the country. The country cannot afford any more failures in the metropolis as it is already teetering on the brink.

It may be relevant to mention here that torrential rains in Karachi and its aftermaths may create immensely favourable environment for the COVID-19 due to the resultant dislocation of thousands and thousands families those will be exposed and compelled to live in crammed living conditions. So, the “Transformation Plan” may also take cognizant of this looming threat to be part of the holistic solution of the mega city. The number of guards may be increased in the face of the possibility of the unfolding of hostage situation again in Karachi due to the virus rampage with familiar unenviable consequences. Full throttle preparation to nip the evil may be undertaken without delay as the better option requiring serious consideration of the political leadership on urgent basis.

Little digression may be here justified to highlight the point in the preceding paragraph. The incumbent director general, World Health Organisation (WHO), has been persistently handing out warning to the countries of the world not to lower their guards deployed to contain the onslaught of the deadly virus that may ‘get worse, and worse, and worse’ in the future. The plausibility of the virus bouncing back with full fury cannot be ruled out as stated by the WHO top official. Standing guard against the infection may be badly needed now than before as experts are still not absolutely sure of exact nature of the virus. No room for laxity.

muhammadshaheedi@yahoo.com