Article 149 (4) no solution to Karachi problems

There is no easy solution to problems of country's biggest city, Karachi, and every time our ruling elite go for some new experiment, it further complicates the issue. Recently, such a move came to limelight when federal law minister and head of prime minister's Karachi committee, Farogh Naseem, hinted at possible implementation of Article 149 (4), which empowers the federal government to issue necessary directives to the provincial government.

Article 149, titled, Directions to the provincial governments in certain cases, has four clauses, but the one under consideration is clause VI, which read as follows, “The executive authority of the Federation shall also extend to giving of directions to a province as to manner in which the executive authority thereof is to be exercised for the purpose of preventing any grave menace to the peace or tranquillity or economic life of Pakistan or any part thereof.”

As far as the law and order situation is concerned, it has improved as a result of empowering Sindh Rangers by giving them more powers, particularly after the Karachi operation in 2013. While Rangers had been in the city since 1989, on the request of the Sindh government, the remarkable improvement came in the last five years.

In the case of Sindh police, the provincial government corrected the historic wrong it had committed when in 2013, it had replaced Police Order, 2002 with Police Act, 1861.

This led to long legal tussle in the former IGP Sindh AD Khwaja case. Few months back, the Sindh government revived Police Order, 2002, but with certain crucial amendments in such a manner which kept the main power with the chief minister. Interestingly, the Punjab government is doing the same in its new police reforms. Thus, the dream of depoliticisation of police may remain a dream.

So, the federal government cannot use law and order as the basis for invoking Article 149 (4). Perhaps, it may cite the last line of the clause VI, which relate to tranquillity or economic life. Even then the city can't go under federal control as the maximum the centre can do is to issue clear directions to the province and can also work out a mechanism to see its enforcement. In all such cases, the implementing authority has to be either the provincial government or the city government.

This caused the biggest problem which the city has been facing for long i.e. the disagreement between the federal government, Sindh government and the city government as to who should look after the city. The differences among the three had been both political as well as economical, as this city of 30 million is still considered as a goldmine, for many interested quarters.

So, what will be in Prime Minister Imran Khan’s mind when he will visit the city on Saturday to review the situation and discuss the matter with the committee he constituted about a week back.

The committee has already become controversial, firstly, because Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and his team had expressed strong reservations over trying to bypass the provincial government and secondly, after an uncalled for statement of Federal Law Minister Farogh Naseem, who hinted at the possible use of Article 149 (4), giving Karachi under the federal rule.

It will be much better if the prime minister holds a tripartite and open discussion with the Sindh CM and Karachi mayor. The premier can lead the committee, along with the CM and the mayor, which, in itself, will give a strong message to the bureaucracy instead of doing things on ad-hocism.

A beginning can be made with the fresh census in Karachi, as almost all parties have raised objection on it. Unless you don't know the exact population, you can't address core issues of any city. Besides, Karachi immediately needs massive proper and lasting repair work of roads, which are in bad shape and complete clean-up of service roads.

This committee could be formed on the pattern of the apex committee, formed in 2013, by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and which included the chief minister, governor of Sindh and also mayor Karachi. Since the committee was on law and order, it also had the army chief, DG Rangers and intelligence chiefs as members, which in this case are not needed.

The PM has to follow the legal course in cases like restoring the Circular Railway, Green Line Bus Service or any other mega projects. For instance, in a bid to streamline Karachi's much needed mega transport system, the premier must set deadline for revival of Circular Railway and launch of Green Bus. Besides, the centre can donate at least 5,000 large-size buses to the city, which should replace outdated existing fleet of small buses. Their owners could be accommodated or used in this business as well.

Secondly, most of the projects completed in the last few years including overhead bridges, underpass clearly indicate the level of incompetence of engineers and so-called experts, as none of these projects could resolve the issue of constant traffic jam.

Karachi needs proper water management system, which cannot be possible unless the government controls ill-planned growth of high-rise buildings in the city. No matter how many new water schemes are launched, the problem would persist because of massive corruption in water distribution.

As I had written about a week back about the menace of Katchi Abadis, the PM, CM and mayor must agree to immediately stop further such ill-planned expansion and take measures to regularise already existing ones. At present, most of the illegal settlements have become a cause of problems like water, drainage and electricity.

This, in itself, is one of the main causes of the recently debated issue of ‘katchra and nullah’, which has badly damaged Karachi's concept of a clean city. Another has been the roadside restaurants, which have practically and illegally occupied the service roads, footpath beside massive illegal marriage halls.

If the PM managed to draw a consensus among the three main stakeholders and keep strong checks and balances, there is a chance of resolving some of the key issues.

There are no two opinions that solution to the problem is very much linked to the basic issue that the local governments must be autonomous with both financial and administrative powers. Irrespective of its political dynamics, Karachi must be treated like any other mega city around the world like New York, London, Tokyo or Mumbai. This is not only the essence of democracy but part of the manifesto of all mainstream parties.

Unfortunately, in the last five decades, the local governments always suffered under the civil rule, which could be reflected from the fact that the local bodies elections were mostly held under military rule while the civilian government often avoid such polls.

Karachi, in the past, had voted in the local bodies polls for all these parties like Jamaat-e-Islami and the PPP in 1979 and 1983, with mayor and deputy mayor from the two parties, to MQM in 1987, to JI again in 2001 after the MQM boycotted, to MQM again in 2003, which retained its position in 2017.

But, the problem persists as the city governments only controlled 34 per cent of Karachi. The prime minister can address the issue if he himself heads the powerful committee or makes the CM captain and then monitors the progress.

The writer is a senior columnist and analyst of GEO, The News and Jang. Twitter: @MazharAbbasGEO