Karachi-Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) members Sindh Assembly on Monday lambasted the provincial government and maintained that if the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) could not provide basic facilities to the people of Karachi, the city should be handed over to the Centre.
Addressing a presser here at the Sindh Assembly building, the MQM-P Rabita Committee member and MPA Muhammad Hussain Khan said that the people belonging to urban areas of Sindh were suffering from the ‘biasness of Wadera Shahi’.
“Neither the deserving youth of the urban areas are given quota in government jobs, nor is the urban Sindh quota implemented in the Sindh Public Service Commission,” he said.
He said that if the federal government had to provide basic facilities including water to Karachi, then the city should be handed over to the Centre.
Muhammad Hussain went on to say that the provincial government had no right to collect tax from Karachi when it was unable to provide water to the mega city. “The chief minister said that the federal government would provide water for K-IV project. We do not recognise the right of governance of such a provincial government,” he added The MPA said that the Sindh Assembly had been turned into an ‘Autaq’ by the Pakistan People’s Party during the the past 15 years. He said that the opposition was restricted to question-and-answer and call attention notices while their dozens of bills had been halted from being tabled. Muhammad Hussain made it clear that the MQM-P had no agreement with the PPP’s government at Sindh level.
“Our agreement was signed with the federal government and if the PPP believes that we will give them a free hand in Sindh, they are wrong,” he said. The MPA said that 98 percent of Sindh’s tax was collected from urban areas and when it came to giving back to the tax payers, the ‘biased’ provincial government maintained that the federation should give separate funds for Karachi.
Speaking on the occasion, MQM-P Parliamentary Leader in Sindh Assembly Rana Ansar said that they tried hard to work with the Sindh government for the sake of democracy, but now it seemed difficult to work with ‘biased’ leaders. “Providing water to Karachi is not a favour but a responsibility of the provincial government. The Sindh government relying on the taxes of Karachi but at the same time forcing us to demand that either Karachi be made a province or handed over to the federation,” she said. She said that justice is not being done to Karachi, Hyderabad in any matter and the MQM-P would take all the constitutional ways to get the rights of citizens of Sindh.
MPA Jawaid Hanif said that the PPP was ruling Karachi like a ‘colony’. “The PPP must change its biased attitude towards the citizens of Sindh, otherwise we will not live in a system where the rights of our generations are not protected,” he maintained.
He said that the provincial government had turned the K-IV project into a mission Kashmir. “Do those who talk about giving separate funds for Karachi consider the city separate from Sindh?,” he asked.
Hanif said that they were struggling against such ‘outdated and biased system’ either, they would change it or get out of the system. He said that the PPP had been ruling in Sindh on the basis of a ‘fake’ majority, adding that that was the reason why they were afraid of accurate census. “If the people of the urban areas of Sindh were counted correctly, the PPP would not be able to form the provincial government,” Hanif added. The party’s other lawmakers of the Sindh Assembly were also present on the occasion.