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KARACHI, June 4: Hundreds of people on Saturday staged a demo against water shortage and besieged the city government secretariat at Civic Centre. The protestors led by haq parast nazims and councillors chanted slogans against the City Nazim, Niamatullah Khan, and alleged him of carrying out uplift works only in areas of Al-Khidmat nazims.
The traffic flow around the Hasan Square was suspended for an hour, when the mob turned violent and ransacked flowerpots decorated on the footpaths.
The mob besieged the city government secretariat for sometime and then entered into it, ransacking it as well.
The protestors, said to be residents of New Karachi, Orangi, North Nazimabad, SITE and other areas, demanded accountability of Niamatullah Khan.
“We don’t need parks, we don’t need roads. We need water,” said Altaf Hussein Mengal, Councillor of UC-3, Site Town.
The police did not intervene, and the mob kept on with its ransacking and chanting anti-nazim and anti-Jamaat-i-Islami slogans.
Hameeda Begum, Councillor of UC-10, Mustafa Colony, New Karachi Town accused the city nazim of embezzlement in uplift funds of Karachi.
She demanded that honorarium should be given to the councillors.
It is worth mentioning here that Nilofar Bakhtiar, Adviser to the Prime Minister for Women Development had on Friday announced that honorarium for female councillors were among her agenda.
When asked what was the use of this protest when LB polls were nearing, Hameeda Begum said: “He (city nazim) still has to answer about the so-called development projects.”
NAZIM: Terming it the worst type of ‘state terrorism’, the City Nazim, Niamatullah Khan, on Saturday strongly slated the attack on the city government secretariat at the Civic Centre by ‘workers of a coalition party of the Sindh government’.
In a statement, the city nazim alleged that workers of a ruling party in the Sindh government, led by its sector and unit in-charges, gathered around the Hasan Square and Civic Centre on Saturday morning.
He said these workers, carrying sticks and water pitchers, in the grab of staging a demo against water shortage blocked the road and created traffic jam that continued for hours, causing great hardships to commuters, especially ambulances carrying patients to hospitals.
Mr Niamat said that later these activists barged into the Civic Centre and chanted provocative slogans, besides damaging flowerpots and decorative articles, and badly damaging public property. He alleged that the intruders also tried to attack his office.
He said a coalition party of the Sindh government was misusing the water issue for its negative politics, which was condemnable.
He said that this style of politics was a bid to sabotage activities, aimed at bringing progress and prosperity to the city.
He said that by such tactics no one could lessen the regard for the city government from the hearts of Karachiites.
Niamat warned that if this style of politics continued, no government office would remain safe.
He said Karachiites were also capable of ‘making their ministers accountable for their poor performance’.
He said the city government was striving for reviving past glories of the city, and it was providing basic facilities to the citizens, adding that these efforts were not hidden from the citizens.
He alleged that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement felt uneasy about the accelerated uplift of the city.
He said projects like the Korangi to Shah Faisal Colony Bridge, the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases, Sohrab Goth Flyover, Karachi Mass Transit, model parks and inter-city bus terminals were achievements of the city government, which would be remembered by Karachiites forever.—PPI
