PPP, MQM-P find fault with each other’s fiscal, development policies

Karachi Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab on Saturday said that if the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Mustafa Kamal had invested Rs300 billion in the city, it would not have been facing a water crisis.

Speaking at a press conference, Wahab said Kamal talks about uniting hearts one day, and breaking them the next. He said he has learnt all the tricks from someone sitting in London.

He also said that 1,795 people were killed in the city in 1995 when one person had control. These people want to practise politics of bias and division in the city, he added.

The mayor said that today there is no reign of fear and terror in this city. “No one can shut down this city, which bothers the MQM.” He said the MQM realised their standing in the city during the general elections.

“We face the challenge of street crime, and we’ll deal with it,” he stressed, adding that on Eidul Azha the mayor and the deputy mayor were on the streets of the city. He pointed out that to resolve the water issues, they are bringing a new line from the Hub Canal.

Wahab remarked that Kamal said a lot in the morning about how the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had done no work in Sindh, while a few days ago he had said the PPP is essential, and the most work was done in the city during Zardari’s era.

He said Kamal claimed to have spent Rs300 billion on Karachi. Had Rs300 billion been spent on the city, there would not have been a water crisis, he added.

He also said that billions of rupees are owed to the Karachi & Sewerage Corporation and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation because of Kamal and his party.

During their era industrialists were kidnapped, extortion slips and bodies in gunny bags were found, and everyone experienced that bad time when the city could be shut down on just a signal, he added.

Wahab said that when the Sindh government was providing jobs to the province’s youth, these people went to court and closed the doors of employment. The court ruled that appointments should be made according to the law and domicile, he added.

He said MQM chief Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui plays the bias card. “Their political party has been part of every government. They claim that during their era, the city was one of the fastest-growing in the world.”

Referring to an English daily’s report, the mayor said that during Kamal’s era, a large number of people were killed, there was bloodshed in the city, a private channel’s office was shot at, and in the same era, land for a sewage treatment plant in Mehmoodabad was used for China cutting. He said that on May 12 many people were killed in Karachi. “We are still dealing with Mustafa Kamal’s actions. This city was once known for knowledge and intellect, not for gunny bags and terror.”

He also said that in the constituency of the MQM’s Khawaja Izharul Hassan, there was a drain next to the road which suddenly disappeared, and 1,200 shops were built, parks were ended, and illegal constructions were done, “yet they claim to be good”.

Wahab said that during their era, 60mm of rain shut down the city, and 200 people died. In 2022, 1,100mm of rain fell, but the city did not shut down, and no one died, he added. He said the Baldia factory fire incident happened during the MQM’s tenure. They allowed construction over drains, severely affecting the drainage system of Karachi, he added.

He also said people were killed and factories were burned in their era, and even with Rs300 billion spent on Karachi, the MQM did not complete the K-IV project.

MQM flays Sindh govt

MQM-P leader Mustafa Kamal criticised the Pakistan Peoples Party-led Sindh government for its “fiscal management and policy failures” over the past 15 years.

Speaking at a press conference at the Pakistan House on Saturday, accompanied by members of the central committee and the national and provincial assemblies, he said the Sindh government had spent over Rs18 trillion in the past 15 years, and that amount was so large that the entire province could be destroyed and rebuilt fifty times over.

He questioned the achievements of the provincial government, particularly pointing out that the Green Buses project, initiated during the MQM’s tenure, was being portrayed as a major accomplishment by the current administration. “If they consider it an achievement after fifteen years in power, we do not accept it,” he said.

Addressing the province’s educational sector, Kamal criticised the government’s ineffective policies, noting a decline in literacy rates and a disturbing trend of parents withdrawing their children from schools. “Even after one and a half decades, there hasn’t been an increase in literacy rates; in fact, due to poor policies, people have even stopped sending their children to school,” he added.

Kamal said there is a lack of significant development in Sindh compared to other provinces, lamenting the region’s deplorable state.

He said that no place in the world requires the government to spend billions on advertising campaigns to show its performance or deceive the public through artists. He questioned the necessity of the continuous advertisements on television.

“If you have done something good, it won’t be on the moon. Citizens will feel it and say to themselves that yes they have worked. But the Sindh government is recklessly spending the hard-earned money of the people on advertisements as if it’s an election year,” he said.

Kamal alleged that the province has been under “the corrupt rule of the PPP for the past 15 years”. He criticised the provincial government for failing to achieve any significant progress, highlighting that, according to statistics, Sindh’s condition was extremely poor compared to that in other provinces.

Despite the Sindh government spending Rs3,200 billion on the education sector, he said, over 7.6 million children in the province remain out of school. He said that the number of out-of-school children in Sindh exceeds the populations of over 50 countries, some of which have less than 7.6 million people.

“The sheer number of children missing out on education in Sindh is staggering. Even after nearly fifteen years, not only has there been no improvement in literacy rates, but due to ineffective policies, many parents have given up on educating their children,” he said.

He mentioned the “misallocation” of funds from the NFC Award, criticising that while Karachi contributes 97 percent of the province’s total revenue, it has only been allocated 33 billion rupees, a paltry sum compared to its contributions. Kamal drew attention to the allocation disparities in local government budgets, pointing out that Punjab allocates 15 percent, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 17.5 percent, while Sindh only 5 percent.

The city, he said, is suffering from severe water shortages while illegal hydrants profit from selling water at exorbitant prices. “A single water dealer has become a billionaire, exploiting the city’s resources,” he said.