Karachi: Under the continuous pressure not only from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, its key coalition partner, but also Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s own lawmakers from Karachi, the federal government has decided to appeal in the apex court against the existing local government systems in Sindh province – a move that will worsen the political chaos in Sindh province, where the PPP and PTI are already at loggerhead on the removal of the provincial police chief.
On Friday, Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said that in a meeting of the core committee presided by Prime Minister Imran Khan, it was decided that the federal government will file an appeal in the Supreme court against the existing local government system in Sindh because “the existing law, according to the constitution, does not empower people politically, administratively and financially at the local level.”
Prime Minister Khan on Thursday convened a PTI’s core committee in Islamabad to form a strategy to move ahead along with all its coalition partners that had expressed their reservations on not fulfilling their promises.
The strengthening of local government system is also one of the key demands of the MQM-P, a federal government’s ally which has resigned from the federal cabinet on not fulfilling its demands. The PTI’s core committee has also asked the party’sSindh leaders to initiate working to submit a bill in Sindh Assembly for new local government bill after consultation with its coalition parties – the MQM-P and the Grand Democratic Alliance, The News has learnt.
Leaders from both the PTI and the MQM-P welcomed the federal government’s decision and said that local governments in Sindh, especially in Karachi and Hyderabad, now carry little administrative powers compared to provincial governments and because of it, the province’s two largest cities have been facing a number of civic issues.
The PTI has been constrained by the 18th Amendment for directly carrying out development projects by bypassing the provincial government. It irked the PTI lawmakers from Karachi to form a group that has been pressuring the federal government to intervene in Karachi’s affairs and initiate development projects in the metropolis. Khurram Sherzaman, an MPA and PTI Karachi president, welcomed the federal government’s decision and said that residents in the Sindh have been sick and tired of the PPP’s bad governance.
“It is the 12 years of the PPP government and residents are still demanding basic necessities, such as water, education, safe drinking water, and cleanliness,” Sherzaman told The News.
The MQM-P lawmakers also appreciated the decision and said that the party from the first day has been demanding the strengthening of local government system that is important to resolve civic issues. “We appreciate that federal minister Asad Umar in meeting with MQM-P leaders listened to issues carefully and informed Prime Minister Imran Khan about the situation,” an MQM-P leader told The News.
In the wake of the government’s failure to cope the havoc wreaked by monsoon rains in Karachi during September last year, the federal government had hinted to intervene in Karachi’s administrative affairs under the constitution’s Article 149, which had received a severe backlash from the PPP and other Sindh ethnic parties reacted strongly. Also, a special committee headed by federal minister Asad Umar has been working to review the development projects initiated by the federal government in Karachi.
