Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan senior leader Dr Farooq Sattar has demanded that the Sindh government should immediately pay dues of Rs25 billion payable to the retired staffers of the Karachi-based municipal agencies.
Speaking at a press conference at a park adjacent to the Bahadurabad Headquarters of the MQM on Thursday, he said the Sindh government was under an obligation to pay these massive dues to the retired municipal staffers of Karachi. He urged Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to immediately pay these dues. He told media persons that Rs6 billion were payable by the government to the retired staffers of Karachi Water & Sewerage Corporation, Karachi Development Authority, and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.
Dr Sattar opined that the payment of the dues of Rs25 billion shouldn’t have been delayed by the provincial government. He said that as per the 18th Constitutional Amendment, the CM was responsible for paying these dues. He demanded that an inquiry should be conducted into this “dubious” fiscal affair.
He lamented that injustices continued to take place with the people of Karachi though the provincial capital generated most of the revenue required to run the entire country. Dr Sattar said the MQM-Pakistan had always campaigned for the deprived municipal staffers of Karachi. “The MQM-Pakistan stands with these retired personnel,” he said. He urged the Sindh government to provide due relief to the citizens of Karachi during the upcoming holy month of Ramazan.
He informed the media persons that the lawmakers belonging to the MQM-Pakistan had always raised issues of the people of Karachi in assemblies. He said resentment among the concerned people of Karachi had been on the rise because the government hadn’t announced any financial compensation for the bereaved families of the persons who lost their lives in road traffic accidents in the city involving heavy vehicles, including dumper trucks.
He urged the CM to immediately pay dues to the retired municipal staffers of Karachi; otherwise, the MQM would join hands with aggrieved former employees of the local government agencies to stage a peaceful protest outside the Chief Minister House in the city. He said the MQM-Pakistan would continue with its campaign to resolve the pressing issues of the people of Karachi.
Sharjeel’s responds
Responding to the criticism of the Sindh government by the MQM-P leader, Sindh Senior Minister for Information Sharjeel Inam Memon on Thursday stated that Dr Sattar was one of the biggest political jugglers and his accusations were more of a political jugglery than reality.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Memon stated that before unnecessarily criticising the Sindh government, the MQM-P leadership should have examined the facts and figures. He emphasised that the Sindh government had paid over Rs 160 billion in arrears and pensions to retired staffers over the past five years.
He stated that institutions like the KMC, KDA, and Karachi's water utility were autonomous bodies responsible for managing their own financial affairs. He added that last year, the Sindh government provided an additional grant of approximately Rs20 billion to Karachi's local bodies to help them overcome the financial crisis.
Memon alleged that the root cause of the current problems being faced by the local government institutions in Karachi and Hyderabad was the bad governance and corrupt practices of the MQM in the past regimes. He pointed out that even before 2017, these institutions were under the MQM's control, but unfortunately, they were driven toward financial and administrative collapse. He claimed that under the MQM's patronage, massive corruption took place in KDA, KMC, the Water board, and other institutions, including fraudulent appointments and the misuse of resources.
He asserted that the financial difficulties these institutions faced were a direct result of MQM’s past plundering. He stated that Farooq Sattar's claim that 80 per cent of the liabilities were the responsibility of the Sindh government was completely false. Local government institutions are autonomous bodies, and their pension funds and financial matters fell under their own jurisdiction.
He added that while the Sindh government had supported these institutions on multiple occasions, they failed to achieve financial stability during the MQM’s tenure. Memon stated that jobs in Sindh were being provided under constitutional and legal procedures. He challenged Sattar to present evidence if he claimed that government recruitments had been carried out using fake domicile certificates. He also questioned whether transparency was ensured when government jobs had been given during the past tenures when the MQM had been in power.
He stated that the funds received by the Sindh government from the federation were being spent transparently. “If Farooq Sattar claims that Rs 25 billion has gone missing, he should provide evidence,” the information minister said, adding that the government was ready for an independent and transparent audit.
He stated that the Sindh government was not afraid of any white paper; rather, it would issue a fact sheet exposing the financial corruption of the previous governments, having the MQM as coalition partners, and the mismanagement of Karachi’s local bodies.
He added that the MQM had lost its political credibility in Karachi and was now making false claims to mislead the public. He stated that the Sindh government had completed several modern development projects in Karachi, Hyderabad, and other urban areas, but during the MQM's era, the city was turned into ruins.
He emphasised that if the MQM had truly been a benefactor of the people of Karachi and Hyderabad, their municipal institutions would not be facing a financial crisis today. Memon stated that Sattar and the MQM had been levelling allegations against the Sindh government to divert attention from their own failures. He pointed out that the way local bodies were managed in the past had led to present-day problems. He assured that the Sindh government stood with the people of Karachi, adding that the MQM must be held accountable for the corruption that took place in the past.