Wahab advises ‘ignorant friends’ to read LG bill before criticising it

Karachi Administrator Murtaza Wahab said on Monday there was a contradiction in the words and deeds of the critics of the new local bodies system in Sindh.

"Ignorant friends are accusing [the provincial government] without reading the law," he said while addressing a news conference in the Sindh Assembly committee room. Wahab, who is also a government spokesperson and adviser to chief minister on law, said a series of allegations had been made in the last few days.

"Some people are talking about division to raise objections to the local government system,” he added. The administrator said the Islamabad mayor and local body representatives in Punjab were sent home as they did not belong to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

Before the passage of the local government bill, he said, the opposition parties used to say that the Sindh government did not want to hold the local body elections. Wahab said the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan should tell whether there was a town system in Karachi during the time of Naimatullah Khan and Syed Mustafa Kamal.

Wasim Akhtar had been saying for the past four years that they did not have the power to operate the water and sewerage board. The administrator said that health and education were provincial subjects. Responding to a question, he said they were waiting for the new elections to give powers to the local bodies.