The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has filed a petition with the Sindh High Court (SHC) against delimitation of union committees (UCs) in Ibrahim Hyderi and other areas of District Malir Karachi.
MQM-P MPA Kanwar Naveed Jameel and others submitted in their recent petition that the sections 8 and 14 of the Sindh local government law authorised the government to declare a town municipality, municipal corporation and metropolitan corporation in urban areas and the government was also authorised to issue a notification regrading delimitation of union councils, union committees and wards.
They submitted that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was also authorised to notify delimitation officers and appellate tribunals, and delimit local areas according to the territorial unity, distribution of population and public convenience.
The petitioners said the government was bound to invite objections before issuance of notification for delimitation of constituencies of Ibrahim Hyderi. They said that according to the law, the population limit for a union committee was 45,000 to 75,000 but it did not mean that all the union councils must have the same population and some other rules were also to be followed such as contiguity, adjustment and easy access for the public of that particular UC.
They submitted that they had raised objections before the delimitation authority with regard to the delimitation of union committees in Ibrahim Hyderi which were rejected by the delimitation authority which ignored the rules provided for demarcation of the constituencies.
The petitioners submitted that the demarcations had disturbed certain other UCs of Malir Town because some of the wards and blocks were part of Malir Town but deliberately and intentionally included in Ibrahim Hyderi Town in violation of the principles of delimitation provided by the local government laws and local council elections rules.
The petition read that such violations needed to be checked and declared ultra vires to the statutes and the delimitation authority be directed to re-demarcate and delimit the constituencies.
The petitioners said that gerrymandering was made to deprive the certain class of people of urban area by making them as a minority so in any circumstances they cannot govern their area as provided under the Article 140 A of the Constitution. They said that all such activities were being conducted by the respondents to destabilize Karachi.
They said that they had also challenged the delimitation notification before the court and in presence of such petition, the delimitation of union committees and wards was also a violation of legal principles.
The high court was requested to declare that the impugned union committees were not in accordance with the principles of the population, contiguity, facilitation and adjustment of areas and uphold the objections of the petitioners, setting aside the delimitation officer’s order.
