KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan on Monday accused the Sindh government of nepotism, alleging that step-motherly treatment was being meted out to urban population by ignoring them in the recruitment for 290,000 government jobs and by not transferring powers to the elected representatives of local bodies.

This was being done to discredit elected representatives of the people, as they would not be able to solve basic problems of their electorates, said leader of opposition in the Sindh Assembly Khwaja Izhar-ul-Hassan.

He declared that the MQM would approach courts to get local government powers restored and the National Accountability Bureau and other investigation agencies after taking parliamentary parties into confidence to expose mega corruption scandals of the Sindh government.

Matter to be taken to NAB and courts; Sindh govt asked to transfer powers to local govt representatives

He added that within the next few days a white paper would be issued about nepotism in recruitment, anti-people and defective policies and indulging in issuing fake domicile to make fresh appointments.

Mr Hassan expressed these views while talking to the media after a meeting of MQM parliamentary party in their chamber at the assembly building.

In the meeting, the party deliberated upon political scenario in the country with specific reference to the situation in Sindh, non-transfer of powers to the local bodies, nepotism in recruitment, government failure to pay heed to the problems in urban areas and releasing a white paper to expose the poor performance of the government.

Accompanied by MQM parliamentary party leader Syed Sardar Ahmad and other leaders, including Faisal Ali Sabzwari, Mr Hassan said powers were not being transferred to local government representatives under a conspiracy to fail them. He said the mega corruption scandal would be discussed with other parliamentary parties before sending relevant documents to the NAB and other investigation agencies besides taking up the matter to court.

With the announcement of lifting ban on fresh recruitment against thousands of vacancies, fake domiciles were being issued, he alleged.

The MQM leader said that under a conspiracy some influential people of the PPP were spreading unrest in Karachi to trigger riots and destroy its peace.

Calling upon the government to give powers to the local government representatives immediately and provide funds to the KMC, DMCs and other local government institutions, otherwise the MQM would have no option but to approach court to get their powers restored, said Mr Hassan.

He said that the MQM was prepared for accountability in case of any alleged illegal recruitment. “But we will not allow anyone now to sell the jobs,” he added.

Mr Sabzwari told the media that Karachi had been continuously ignored in recent years, while the elected local government representatives were being harassed.

He said the Rs12 billion development package announced for Karachi was not a favour when the metropolis generated 70 per cent of the total revenue of the country.

If the Sindh government did not change its policy and failed to pay heed to the demands of the elected representatives from urban areas, there would be an “unexpected public reaction”, he said.

Published in Dawn October 25th, 2016