Country may head towards anarchy if new provinces not made: Sattar

KARACHI: Stressing on the need for creating new administrative units, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan PIB Colony faction leader Farooq Sattar has said that the country may head towards anarchy if more provinces are not made.

Speaking at a protest called late Saturday night in Liaquatabad against Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah’s recent remarks over the demand of the division of the province, Sattar said that they have had enough and now after the chief executive’s statement where he said he sends curses on those demanding a new province, they have resolved to seriously campaign for the issue.

“Now we are starting a practical movement for the new administrative province [in Sindh],” he said, contending that Mohajirs who traditionally make the MQM and the likes’ vote bank were being “criminalised” under a pre-planned conspiracy.

Preferring to name the new province Southern Sindh rather than Mohajir province, he said that he wanted to assure Sindhis that he, his party or the thought behind their demand was not against them, but against the feudal system of which they [Sindhis] are a victim too. He said that it is in their favour as well.

“In the northern areas, people are pitted against each other in the name of religion, while in Sindh on the basis of ethnicity by the feudal landlords,” he said. Sattar urged the authoritative powers to recognise

those who are proliferating hate as they were the real enemies of the country. He added that the making of new provinces will strengthen Pakistan.

The MQM-P leader argued that when Karachi districts were made from four to five according to the need then why new provinces or administrative units cannot be created in the country. Referring to the revenues generated from the financial hub, he said that if they demand local bodies’ powers and new province, they were being deemed as traitors.

The MQM groups, the Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi and the Pak Sarzameen Party have all claimed that the population of Karachi was shown less than its actual population in the results of last year’s census, which would deprive the city of its right to fair share in resources. According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the population of the city was recorded at least 16 million last year.

MQM-P has been putting up the demand for a new province again since its public meeting in Liaquatabad earlier this month. The meeting was held in response to the Pakistan Peoples Party’s meeting in Liaquatabad in District Central that has been a stronghold of the MQM. Later, MQM-H also put up the same demand. PSP meanwhile has refrained from it.

Like previously, the demand of a new province has sparked heated debates. With similar voices

being raised from different parts of the country e.g. southern Punjab, the issue is gradually being discussed in length, however, the exchange of harsh words between parties sometimes raises tensions.

As the PPP and MQM accuse each other of bidding to create ethnic divides, their rivals like PSP, which will contest election for the first time although under the impression that it is being backed by the security establishment, contend that the parties are in a “fixed fight” to distract people from judging them on their performance while voting.