Kamal calls for devolving NFC award to UC levels

Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) Chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal on Friday said as long as the shares of the National Finance Commission’s (NFC) award were not devolved to grass-roots level in the form of the Provincial Finance Commission (PFC) award, issues of each and every area of Pakistan, including Karachi, would remain unresolved.

During a meeting with the members of the PSP’s national council and central executive committee at the Pakistan Secretariat on Friday, he called for an amendment to the 18th constitutional amendment to make it binding upon the provincial governments to provide funds to the districts and union councils.

Kamal was of the view that invoking the Article 149 of the Constitution would not help resolve problems of Karachi and it rather would create uncertainty and complexity. He said he was not seeing the resolution of the issues of Karachi anytime soon as garbage in the city was not being lifted, drinking water was not available to many people, and epidemics were spreading.

He said the federal government's proposed move to invoke the Article 149 was biased. "PPP [Pakistan Peoples Party] will never support this and eventually the Centre will have to approach the Supreme Court. So the article is definitely far away from being implemented in near future," he remarked.

Kamal said the situation of the rest of Sindh, including Larkana, Nawabshah, and Sukkur, was also lamentable. "Naseem should bring Prime Minister Imran Khan to Karachi and hold a meeting with Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah for the resolution of issues. If CM refuses to sit with PM, the provincial government will stand exposed," the PSP chairman said.

He asked why the PM was not ready to talk with the Sindh CM and remarked that without making efforts for the resolution of the issues, the Centre invoking the Article 149 would yield no positive results. Kamal asked the federal government to support the provincial government and own Karachi, leaving its ego aside.