Every stakeholder vying for electoral share takes to the streets
for common cause of city’s due rights
As Karachi’s temperature continues to rise, the political atmosphere in the provincial capital is also heating up: every stakeholder vying for an electoral share has almost simultaneously taken to the streets for the common cause of the city’s due rights.
The mainstream political parties – the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP), the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) – have been protesting against the Sindh government, holding it responsible for the city’s deteriorating civic situation.
Interestingly, the ruling parties in the federal and Sindh administrations – the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) respectively – have been organising protest rallies against each other.
Politicking over Karachi
On Sunday afternoon, PTI Chairman Imran Khan, along with central and provincial leaders of the party, attended a huge rally titled ‘Huqooq-e-Karachi March’ against the problems faced by the city’s residents.
“The main purpose of the rally is to highlight the city’s civic issues, which its
residents have been facing for decades because of bad governance and corruption of the rulers,” said Ali Zaidi, PTI Karachi’s former president.
Meanwhile, the JI continued its sit-in outside the Governor House as part of the party’s campaign since March 31 against the K-Electric over the issues of tariff increase and load shedding.
Sirajul Haq, the JI’s central chief, also attended the protest to support the drive of the party’s Karachi chapter.
JI Karachi spokesperson Zahid Askari told the News that load shedding was the biggest issue of the city, adding that the JI was the only political party that had been criticising against the electric company.
“Other political parties have not raised their voices against the power utility’s excesses because of their own interests.”
The MQM-P has also launched its campaign to pressurise the provincial government into giving the city its due rights.
The party staged a ‘Huqooq-e-Karachi Rally’ on April 23 from Liaquatabad to MA Jinnah Road against the PPP’s “dishonest and discriminatory policies and bad governance”.
Three weeks before the rally, the MQM-P had also issued a white paper against the provincial administration.
Similarly, the PSP – formed by former MQM leaders Mustafa Kamal and Anis Qaimkhani – staged a 19-day sit-in outside the Karachi Press Club against the Sindh government for keeping the city “deprived of its due rights”.
The party is now preparing for a ‘Million-man March’ on May 14. However, the PML-N and the PPP – both of whom have been held responsible by political parties for Karachi’s worsening civic situation – organised rallies in the city to criticise each other.
On April 26, the PPP had organised a rally at the Mazar-e-Quaid as part of its ‘Go Nawaz Go’ campaign to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over the Supreme Court’s recent verdict on the Panamagate scandal.
On May 1 (today), the party will stage a rally to commemorate International Workers’ Day (or Labour Day) from the Merewether Tower to the Mazar-e-Quaid.
On the other hand, the PML-N organised a ‘Nawaz Sharif Zindabad’ rally from Karsaz to Fawara Chowk near the local press club in support of the premier, expressing gratitude over the top court’s judgement.
Deteriorating civic conditions
Political analysts believe that the sudden hue and cry by the mainstream political parties in the metropolis shows that they have kicked off preparations for the upcoming general elections, for which they have been politicking over the deteriorating civic conditions.
Gul Muhammad Mamond, a journalist who covers the civic issues of the city, told the News that the residents had been suffering for the past many years because their civic issues were yet to be resolved.
“Residents in most of the areas are forced to live without potable water and electricity, and with piles of garbage and overflowing gutters.”
He said commuters were forced to get stuck in traffic jams because of bad or under-construction roads, mainly because of poor planning and slow pace of work.
Analysts said that realising the severity of the civic problems, the mainstream political parties aimed at exploiting the city’s rights to gain public sympathy ahead of the upcoming polls.
The JI’s Askari, however, said his party had repeatedly raised voice over the civic issues for the past two years. “Whether it’s power load shedding or the construction of University Road, the JI protests at every forum.”
The MQM-P, which has been embroiled in problems because of a crackdown on the party’s workers and its internal crises, managed to win the April 14 by-elections for six union committees.
The party’s leaders claimed that the results showed that the residents still believed the MQM-P to be the only political party that could solve the city’s issues. The MQM-P’s Syed Ali Raza Abidi said on the microblogging website Twitter on Sunday: “...the mega city has been owned by [the] MQM for the past [four] decades and will continue to be owned by [the] MQM...”
