Water crisis dominates debate among NA-247, PS-111 candidates

The economy of the country is in the doldrums because nearly all the preceding governments have presented deficit budgets which has made dependency on foreign loans to meet the expenses inevitable; thus, the credit volume has increased over the years, depleting the currency, said Hussain Mehanti, an aspiring lawmaker , during an interactive session with his constituents on Friday.

Mehanti, a chartered accountant, is a candidate of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, an electoral alliance of religious parties, in NA-247, Karachi South-II, where a tough fight is expected in complex neighborhoods, both affluent and unprivileged in terms of social and economic classes.

He said that thanks to the start of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which, according to him, made the policymakers of the country realise the importance of the city which had fallen prey to violence for about 25 years. “It was then that the military also decided that peace in Karachi be attained at all costs,” he added.

The MMA candidate blamed the Muttahida Qaumi Movement for the violence in the city and also held the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party responsible for not doing anything to maintain law and order in Karachi despite each of them having taken two turns each in the Center since 1987.

He claimed that the MMA would make the national economy better by putting things rights in the financial hub of the country.

The interactive session with the NA-247 and PS-111 candidates was organised by the Defence Society Residents Association at a Gizri Boulevard residence. A total of ten candidates, including Fauzia Kasuri of the Pak Sarzameen Party, Arif Alvi of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Afnanullah Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Murtaza Wahab of the Pakistan Peoples Party and independent Jibran Nasir, spoke.

Highlighting the issues faced by the residents of the diverse electoral group, PSP candidate Fauzia Kasuri saidthe residents of Defence and Clifton were more privileged than the dwellers of the rest of the areas in this NA constituency because they could fight off the “tanker mafia” with their money to water their gardens. In the real world, she said, people did not have even a single drop of water.

“I have been into the politics for 22 years and now I have seen almost all kinds of it,” she said, adding that there was so much hypocrisy and fraud in this occupation.

Kasuri was a founding member of the PTI but she left it recently to join Mustafa Kamal’s Pak Sarzameen Party. She said that the PTI lost its ideals and that was why she chose the PSP because it was a newer party going into the elections for the very first time. She said her party was committed to serving the people.

A former MNA from the constituency, Arif Alvi of the PTI mostly talked about the things he had done during his previous tenure from 2013-2018. About the goals he has put on his agenda, he said his party wanted to overcome the water and power crisis in his constituency, build a desalination plant and install smaller power generation units that would turn garbage into energy.

Imran Ismail, PTI candidate for PS-111, pointed out the failure in the system due to which one had to pay twice for the same commodity. He said that despite paying for the water tax, people were forced to buy it from the mafia that had taken over the public water. He said that the freshwater issue was becoming endemic, and unless serious measures were taken, the situation would worsen.

Though PPP candidate for PS-111 Murtaza Wahab’s speech revolved around what he did during his previous term as a senator and Sindh law advisor, he highlighted an important issue that his constituency faced.

He said that 85 per cent of it did not fall within the ambit of the provincial government or the Karachi Municipal Corporation, but with the Clifton Cantonment Board. He said the board was not willing to do anything.

Yet, Wahab said, he through his lobbying had got the stakeholders, including the CBC, onboard and pledged that if he won, he would install a desalination plant with the help of the provincial government in the constituency to overcome the water crisis to an extent. Besides his legislation work, he also put light on his contribution to efforts to deal with the traffic passing through District South thoroughfares.

PML-N candidate for NA-247 Afnanullah Khan credited his party’s previous government for the restoration of peace and the start of some development schemes in the city. He said that if the PML-N won and formed the next government in the Center, the water problem would be resolved within three years and the garbage issue would be taken care of within six months. He asked the voters to consider the party’s agenda and past performances before voting.

Independent candidate Jibran Nasir said he was not contesting to win and then sit on the treasury benches but to be an effective representative of his constituency on the opposition benches. He was of the view that many things could be done through opposition.

He commented that for a lawmaker, accessibility, transparency and accountability were three crucial things and, according to his short term plan, this could be ensured within just 90 days. He talked about the ticket system complaint registration and said that it could build a check on the legislator performance for how much their response time to the complaints was.

Nasir said that the youngsters of the constituency were politically and socially aware and had been out on the streets since the murder of university student Shahzeb Khan at the hands of a son of a feudal lord.

Talking about his social rights work, he said he had done work in areas and cases that had no relation with constituency. He said that this showed his commitment to the cause.