PPP, PML-Q want amicable solution to LG law controversy

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League’s Quaid-e-Azam group (PML-Q) have resolved to amicably remove the opposition’s reservations over the recently passed Sindh Local Government Amendment Bill 2021, so as to ensure that the law of municipal governance is acceptable to every concerned quarter.

The resolve was expressed on Wednesday, when the PPP’s Information and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani and LG Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah met PML-Q Sindh President Tariq Hassan at his residence.

Addressing a joint news conference, the PPP and PML-Q leaders said the opposition should not opt for the typical route of street agitation, but instead sit down with the provincial government to negotiate and resolve the controversial issue.

They said the PPP has legitimate democratic rule in Sindh, so the opposition political parties should not use compulsive means to try to force the provincial government into incorporating amendments of their choice into the LG law.

The LG minister said the opposition parties are trying to show the chief minister’s statement on majority and minority parties in the provincial assembly in a bad light.

He said the ruling PPP is a party of national level, adding that it has fraternal relations with the Urdu-speaking community living in the province. He also said the PPP has been practically demonstrating its willingness to negotiate with the opposition on the issue of the province’s LG system.

He reiterated that no new LG law has been introduced in Sindh, but rather only amendments have been incorporated into the LG act of 2013, under which the previous local bodies elections were held.

The PML-Q’s Sindh chief expressed gratitude to both the provincial ministers of the PPP for visiting his home to hold talks on the LG system issue. He said they had made several suggestions to improve the LG law, adding that the provincial government had incorporated many of them in the newly passed LG bill.

He also said he had suggested to the major opposition parties, including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, to form a joint committee to hold talks with the government on the issue.

He added that he is pleased that the Sindh government is willing to meet every concerned stakeholder in the province on the issue of the province’s LG law. Replying to a question, the information minister said the removal of municipal waste had not been the responsibility of Karachi’s mayor even in the LG act of 2001, pointing out that it was the districts’ job.

He said the Sindh government had agreed to form towns in the urban centres of the province on the demand of the opposition, otherwise the PPP had been in favour of retaining the system of district municipal corporations in Karachi.

He also said the process of devolution of powers to grassroots level has been furthered with the adoption of the new LG amendment bill. He added that the tax collection authority of the municipal agencies has been increased further.

The minister said that in order to improve the working of the health and educational facilities of the municipal bodies in Sindh, the provincial government had decided to take over them.