PPP not to let Islamabad consume Karachi’s revenue

KARACHI: The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) pledged not to allow Islamabad to consume the revenue generated in Karachi by separating it from the rest of the Sindh province as Karachi always remained and will continue to be an integral part of Sindh, as its capital city.

This was one of the resolutions passed by the Central Executive Committee of Pakistan Peoples Party met here at Bilawal House on Saturday with the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in chair.

Expressing concern over the controversial statements emanating from the PTI government and its officials, including the Attorney General about their intentions for Sindh’s capital, the CEC underlined the party’s resolve that the Sindh government was fully responsible and empowered to address the issues of Karachi and to wield city’s administrative control. He said that the imposition of the federal rule in Karachi tantamount to pushing the country towards a centralized regime against the spirit of the provincial autonomy as enshrined in the Constitution. The meeting condemned the federal government’s obvious and renewed attempts at subverting the mandate of the people of Sindh, and decided to resist all unconstitutional and illegal encroachments on the PPP government’s rights and responsibilities in Sindh. At the occasion, the CM Sindh said that extreme, exceptional weather had caused great misery and hardship to the people of Karachi in particular.

The meeting observed that the people of Pakistan were facing immediate and serious crises of crippling inflation, crippling load-shedding and governance failures due to mismanagement by the PTI government. The CEC resolved to address them while increasing contact with the people at all levels.

The meeting also addressed the problems of the people of Gilgit Baltistan and the issues related to the upcoming election there. The meeting recognized that the PPP gave the area a new identity by recognizing its rights to citizenship. The Chairman PPP directed all workers and leaders to prepare for contesting the election in Gilgit Baltistan with full force.

The meeting also directed the Punjab chapter of the party to reinvigorate its contacts with people in the province, who are now protesting against sheer incompetence, bad governance and corruption of the Punjab government. It resolved to focus its political energies on the growing problems and needs of the people of Punjab.

The meeting condemned the central government’s misuse of parliamentary democracy by bulldozing sensitive laws that protect Pakistan’s international and security interests by not letting the parliament debate and review them until the last minute, thus jeopardizing its core security interests. It also noted the gravity of the situation as the government had tried to impose authoritarian, draconian laws using the cover of FATF laws.

It recognized the contribution of PPP’s parliamentary party in amending these crucial laws to remove their undemocratic clauses allowing violation of basic rights. The CEC decided to oppose all clauses that could be misused in the name of FATF for enabling the government pass its controversial anti-democratic agenda through both the houses of Parliament. The CEC said the party would strongly oppose all illegal, draconian clauses in any bills, including the economic terrorism bill, the AMLA bill and the Anti-Terror bill which have nothing to do with the FATF-related requirements both in the interests of Pakistan and its people.

The CEC decided to confront all fake cases instituted by the PTI regime via NAB, which has become completely controversial and lost all credibility, especially after the damning reports by international organizations like the Human Rights Watch, and those of the Supreme Court against the anti graft agency in the Saad Rafique case. The Party expressed its special appreciation for the Pakistan Bar Council and Supreme Court Bar Association for questioning the bona fide status of NAB to hold Pakistan’s elected representatives’ hostage in what is clearly a blatant witch-hunt of the opposition leadership.

Finally, the PPP expressed its undying commitment to the Kashmir cause, condemned Indian atrocities in Illegally Occupied Indian Kashmir, and to the people of entire Kashmir for supporting their inalienable right to self-determination as enshrined in the UN resolutions. The PPP also reiterated its position of supporting the rights of the Palestinian people to their right to independent statehood.

The CEC pledged its complete resistance of all undemocratic moves by the PTI government by expressing its full confidence in the leadership of Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and President PPPP Asif Ali Zardari.

Prominent among those who attended online were President Asif Ali Zardari, Mrs Faryal Talpur, Nayyar Bokhari, Farhatullah Babur, Raja Parvez Ahraf, Sherry Rehman, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Raza Rabbani, Syed Murad Ali Shah, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, Naveed Qamar, Humayoon Khan, Farooq Naek Adv., Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Haji Ali Madad Jatak, Ch. Lateef Akbar, Amjad Azar Adv., Nafisa Shah and others.