PPP systematically destroyed institutions that served Karachi, alleges Monem Zafar

Karachi Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Emir Monem Zafar has called for protest demonstrations on 13 major arteries of Karachi tomorrow (Friday) evening against acute water shortage in the megacity.

Addressing a press conference at the Karachi JI headquarters, Idara Noor-e-Haq, on Wednesday, he said that Karachi had been under a constant water assault by the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) government in Sindh.

Karachiites had been paying the price for the unannounced attack on their share in water resources, he said, adding that initially, the PPP in collaboration with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz (PML-N) ambushed the head count of Karachiites to cut the share of Karachi in national resources. More than 35 million population was notified a little above 20 million people, he claimed.

He was of the view that the PPP had deprived Karachi of all the institutions that once used to serve Karachiites, he said highlighting the conversion of the Karachi Building Control Authority into Sindh Building Control Authority, solid waste departments under the district municipal corporations into the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board, Karachi Development Authority’s Master Plan Department into the Sindh Master Plan Authority, and Karachi Mass Transit Authority into Sindh Mass Transit Authority.

Wherever the PPP found Karachi, they converted it into Sindh in order to augment corruption, he said, adding that the PPP had been capturing Karachi and its institutions. He said that some 14 days ago, an 84-inch water supply line developed a leakage and it was not the first time. During the past seven months, it developed leakages for six times, he added.

A major portion of Karachi had been deprived of water for the past 14 days, he maintained. He said the JI leaders had bestowed K-I, K-II and K-III water supply projects to Karachi besides sewerage projects. The late Niamatullah Khan initiated the K-IV project but the MQM and PPP never let it be materialized, he said.

The once Rs25 billion K-IV project now cost Rs200 billion, whereas the water share under the phase one of the project shrank from 650 million gallon water to 260 million gallon, Zafar lamented.

Only the tanker mafia was enjoying and taking advantage of the situation, he said, adding that instead of discouraging the mafia, the PPP government proudly announced that it earned hefty amounts of money by selling out water to the people of Karachi through water tankers.

Talking about the Operation Bunyanum Maroos, he said it had created a spirit of Jihad in the nation. He paid a rich tribute to the military forces of the country and stressed the need for sustainability of the spirit demonstrated by the nation in the aftermath of the operation.

He also demanded restoration of the National Cadet Corps, Civil Defence, scouts and other such institutions stating that the nation needed to keep its guards up.

The JI leader also highlighted the issue of lawlessness in the city saying that 42 Karachiites had been gunned down by street criminals in the city during the past four-and-a-half months. He lambasted the government and police over short-term kidnappings by police personnel in uniform.

He also accused the Sindh Building Control Authority and Federal Investigation Agency of supporting the portion and encroachment mafia. The JI would mobilise the people of Karachi against the mafias prevailing in the city, he said.