Local bodies to facilitate Muharram processions, mayor assures Allama Naqvi

Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar along with Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan Senior Deputy Convener Amir Khan and former provincial minister Syed Abdul Haseeb met renowned scholar Allama Shehanshah Hussain Naqvi on Friday and assured him that the local bodies would fully facilitate processions of Muharram-ul-Haram like in the previous years.

“Inter-sectarian harmony and unity is the need of the hour to fail the evil designs of extremists. All civic institutions should perform duties so that the people could perform their religious obligations properly,” he said.

The mayor said the creation of a new district in Karachi was injustice with the city, and his party would not tolerate any further division of the metropolis.

He was of the view that the provincial government wanted to divide the vote bank of the MQM-P. “This is not a administrative decision but a political one, which is aimed at making political gains for the PPP.”

Akhtar said that in larger interest of the city, they opposed this move and were going to approach the court of law. He said the Sindh government always decried the National Finance Commission whenever it got a lesser share from the Centre, but it never talked about a provincial finance commission.

“The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board is being used as ATM by the Sindh government, as on the one hand, the people are craving for water, but on the other, the tanker mafia is looting the citizens.”

The mayor said that Karachi’s population was increasing day by day due to migration, but there was no law to control it.