MQM-P moves SHC to be intervenor in plea against Keamari district creation

KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) filed an application the in Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday for becoming an intervenor in a petition against the creation of the Keamari district.

Petitioner Amir Liaquat Hussain, an MNA of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, has filed a petition in the SHC against creation of the Keamari district. He says the new district has been created in violation of the law and a proper procedure has not been adopted by the Sindh government.

He is of the view that Keamari has been made a district on ethnic lines and several important aspects with regard to the creation of new districts have ben disregarded by the provincial government.

Filing an application for becoming an intervenor in the petition, MQM-P leaders Khawja Izharul Hasan and others said the creation of the Keamari district was an attempt of the ruling Pakistan Peopled Party to divide the city on an ethnic basis and to strengthen its political position.

Talking to journalists after filing the application, they said that the creation of the new district was a politically-motivated decision made and it had been without consulting the stakeholders, including the people of the area.

They added that the decision was made to achieve political goals by the ruling party in Sindh as the final result of the population census of 2017 had not been announced, while the delimitation of local government jurisdictions had also not been carried out yet.

The MQM leaders further said the government had so far submitted nothing to the court to justify the move, apart from a notification of the new district. It was contended in the application that despite the pendency of the petition in question, the provincial authorities had notified the district municipal corporation of Keamari.

The application further argued that under the revenue laws, it was mandatory to hold a public hearing before creating a new district. It contended that the move was unconstitutional and illegal and should set aside.

On the other hand, the senior member revenue board submitted in the court that the creation of the Keamari district from the West district was made in order to ensure administrative control and better service delivery in the best interest of the public as well as for the establishment of writ of the government in an effective manner.

The member submitted that the public would be facilitated after the creation of the new district whose administration would be available to resolve their issues smoothly at their doorsteps.

He further claimed that the people of the district would get new job opportunities, and better service delivery, and the government could smoothly carry out the administrative work and maintain it writ in public interest.

He said the petitioner was not an aggrieved person as he did not belong to the district in question and the petition was filed on ill-political motives and with a malafide intention. He said that due to the creation of the new district no boundaries of the existing sub-division had been disturbed and the interest of common citizen had been rather safeguarded.