‘ADP schemes approved only for Karachi UCs governed by PPP or its allies’

Of the 50 union committees (UCs) of Karachi for which the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) government has approved development schemes under the Annual Development Programme (ADP), 45 are governed by the PPP and the other five by its coalition partners.

Karachi Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Emir Monem Zafar called out this discriminatory attitude of the government while addressing a press conference held at the Karachi JI headquarters Idara Noor-e-Haq.

He alleged that the PPP government in Sindh and its Karachi mayor were both biased and had been showing discrimination against people who did not vote for the PPP. He demanded that the Sindh government approve development schemes and funds equally and evenly in all the UCs across the megacity. He said the schemes proposed for the UCs run by the JI were rejected or neglected.

Zafar also condemned the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) for attacking the JI’s Jinnah Town UC chairman, Kaleemul Haq Usmani. He claimed that Usmani was manhandled by a gang of the MQM workers at his office. Those in the corridors of power must realise that the megalopolis could not sustain culture of packed corpses and target killings any more, Zafar said, adding that any attempt to revive a dead political party would not work at all.

He demanded that the government and police ensure arrest of all those responsible for attacking the UC chairman. Talking about the situation in Karachi, the JI leader said that 725 deaths in road accidents during the outgoing year reflected the performance of the government and the traffic police. It was the worst failure on their part, he added.

He also highlighted the issues of infrastructure, delayed projects like the Red Line, and acute water crisis in the city. Regarding the power crisis in Karachi, Zafar said that on the one hand, the K-Electric (KE) was overcharging and continuously causing acute shortage of electric supply, and on the other hand, the government was mulling to bless it with another Rs68 billion from taxpayers’ money.

He demanded that the government not approve Rs68 billion ‘bogus’ write-off claims by the KE. Later in the day, the JI leader visited the injured UC chairman and paid a rich tribute to Usmani for his resolve in the face of the MQM's violence. The UC chairman informed the JI’s city chief about the interference by an MQM MPA in the affairs of the UC. He also described the attack on the UC office.