Mustafa Kamal rails against injustice meted out to Karachi, says MQM-P will now take to the streets

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Mustafa Kamal on Saturday announced that the party would take to the streets against the injustice being meted out to Karachi.

Kamal, who is also the federal health minister, made the announcement while addressing a press conference in Karachi, where he railed against the Sindh government’s indifference towards the metropolis and its people.

“MQM-P has decided that it will no longer stay quiet. We will adopt all the ways listed in the Constitution. We spoke in assemblies, they do not agree. We presented a constitutional amendment, they do not agree. Now, we will make use of the streets while staying within the law and the Constitution. We will come onto the streets with the people,” he said.

“The law and the Constitution give us the right to come out onto the streets. Pakistan is at a point where it cannot function under the same system any longer,” he said.

This system, he said, was the one with four provinces and a federating unit. Referring to the distribution of federal funds, Kamal said the federation had allocated Rs8.4 trillion among the four provinces, of which Sindh received around Rs2.2 trillion.

“These funds are allocated in the name of the people, but they remain confined to the Chief Minister House instead of reaching Karachi, Larkana, Hyderabad or Sukkur,” he alleged.

He said that funds dispensed to Sindh were never seen by the districts, adding that there was no system for disbursing the funds to union councils.

“And they say they will not touch the 18th Amendment. The 18th Amendment has not been enforced. That is why MQM-P announces that it will endorse all steps for the devolution of power … the top of the list of which is new provinces on an administrative basis,” he said.

During the presser, Kamal accused the Sindh government of preventing Karachi from playing its role in driving Pakistan’s economic growth, alleging that the provincial administration had failed to provide the city with basic civic services. He also questioned why Karachi was being held back despite its economic importance.

“Who can pull Pakistan out of this economic quagmire? And who is preventing Karachi from playing that role? It is the current Sindh government that is not allowing Karachi to contribute to Pakistan as it should,” he said.

Kamal said the provincial government was holding Karachi back and preventing it from contributing to the country’s development.

“We are happy for Lahore, but the tragedy is that if development was to take place anywhere in Pakistan first, it should have happened in Karachi,” he said.

The minister said Karachi should have led Pakistan’s progress and helped the country emerge from its economic challenges, but alleged that the PPP-led Sindh government had failed to allow the city to fulfil that role.

He also accused the provincial administration of failing to provide residents with basic services, alleging that Karachi lacked adequate drinking water, a proper sewerage system and sufficient schools, while many girls’ schools did not even have toilets.

He further alleged that the province had the country’s highest rates of child stunting and out of school children. He said that Sindh also reported more dog-bite cases than any other province, adding that incidents of children falling into open manholes were a recurring problem in Karachi.

“Sindh is the only place where children are losing their lives after falling into manholes,” he said.

Calling Karachi Pakistan’s “economic capital”, Kamal said the city generated revenue for the country and housed its seaports, yet continued to suffer from poor governance.

“It is an international city, yet news of children falling into manholes emerges from Karachi. Lawlessness is at its peak, there is no one to look after primary and secondary schools, and there have been no police reforms,” he said.

The minister contrasted Karachi’s condition with developments in other parts of the country, saying that while other cities were discussing air ambulances, metro systems and trains, Karachi was introducing bicycle ambulances.

“I want to tell those running the country not to mistake our silence for weakness. Hyderabad, Karachi, Sukkur and other cities are home to living, breathing people, but everywhere there is destruction,” he said.

Kamal said the MQM-P had proposed constitutional amendments aimed at addressing these issues, but they could not be passed because the party lacked the required numbers in parliament.

“Will our generations continue to suffer because this government needs the PPP’s numbers? From Karachi to Kashmore, our children are dying while political and democratic oppression continues,” he alleged. ...