MQM motion to declare Karachi, Hyderabad calamity-hit turned down

KARACHI: The opposition legislators belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) resorted to a vocal protest in the Provincial Assembly of Sindh on Monday after they were denied the opportunity to present their resolution on Karachi and Hyderabad.

The resolution drafted by the MQM-P was aimed at discussing in the House the adverse situation prevailing in the two biggest cities of the province owing to the lockdown regime against the spread of Covid-19.

The MQM-P through its resolution wanted to declare both the big cities calamity-hit areas to postpone the recovery of taxes from their residents in view of their serious economic hardships due to the continuing lockdown measures. All the opposition lawmakers belonging to the MQM-P took part in the protest in the PA in violation of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) imposed against the coronavirus, which restricts the number of legislators present in the assembly at a time during the session.

Later, talking to media persons after the adjournment of the session, MQM-P lawmaker Muhammad Hussain Khan claimed that citizens of the two biggest cities of the province were being oppressed in the name of imposing the SOPs against Covid-19. He said that people had nothing to eat in Karachi as their businesses were abruptly shut at 6pm on a daily basis, regardless of the fact that the traders of city were the highest taxpayers in the country. He added that people in Karachi were arbitrarily arrested for the alleged violation of the lockdown regime and unduly taken to the police stations causing them serious humiliation.

He also claimed that key officials of the district administration in Karachi were natives of the rural parts of Sindh, which was in violation of merit. The party’s MPA Javed Hanif said that people of Karachi were being treated in such a harsh manner during the lockdown regime as if the city was an occupied territory. Earlier, the House was informed that five different vaccines had been received by the province from the federal government to inoculate the people of Sindh against the spread of the coronavirus.

Responding to the call-attention notice of MQM-P lawmaker Raana Ansar, Parliamentary Secretary for Health Muhammad Qasim Soomro said that Sindh had so far received two million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. He said that first doses of the vaccine had been administered to over 900,000 people across the province, while around 300,000 people had been completely vaccinated against the deadly infectious disease. He also said that the steps taken by the Sindh government against the spread of the coronavirus since the initial days of the pandemic had been appreciated at international level.

He recalled that Sindh was the first province of the country to impose a lockdown against the spread of the virus, and later on the rest of the country followed suit for the protection of the health of the citizens.