HYDERABAD: Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal has said that his party wants “devolution of democracy and resources” at grass-root level to strengthen the federation.

Speaking at the ‘Meet the Press’ programme organised by the local press club on Friday, Mr Kamal said there was no harm if resources and powers were decentralised and devolved to UCs for it would give ownership of areas to their people.

Accompanied by PSP president Anis Qaimkhani, Mr Kamal said powers should be devolved for the good of common man. “Democracy should be taken out of the PM and CM houses. It should not be restricted to the parliamentarians alone,” he remarked.

Resources and powers should be given to each and every street, which would benefit the country and help curb corruption. Distribution of resources did not require any constitutional amendment or enactment of law because Article 140-A of the Constitution directs the government to ensure decentralisation of powers and resources, he said.

The PSP chairman said he was not seeking powers on the basis of language. He said 25 million children were not going to school while 10 million children were hit by stunted growth as they did not have access to clean drinking water and healthy food. People had suffered too much in terms of sanitation, sewerage and other issues and now they wanted a better tomorrow for which a comprehensive planning was needed, he said. He said historians would mention the Dec 23 ‘Awami Adalat (public court)’ being organised by his party in the Pucca Qila ground, as a major event because it would mark a real change. After Dec 23, the PSP would decide its future strategy, he added.

Disturbances outside

Mr Kamal said he was fully concentrating on organising the event and could not spare time to see what the two MQM factions were doing to mark the ‘Yaum-i-Shuhada’ today. He dismissed the suggestion from a journalist that the manifestos of the PSP and MQM-Pakistan were same; and the MQM belonged to [its founder leader] Altaf Hussain and would remain so.

The mandate of parliamentarians was actually and simply Altaf-specific, he said, adding that [MQM-Pakistan chief] Dr Farooq Sattar should organise his party afresh. However, he said, the doors of the PSP were open to Dr Sattar. He ruled out any possibility of a merger of the PSP and MQM-Pakistan.

The PSP chief said he and Mr Qaimkhani had gone through a process of evolution with their conviction and what they did on March 3 was not for personal enmity or friendship. “We did not take the decision to target any person but spoke our mind when we realised that they [MQM} are part of a wrongdoing,” he said.

But we [PSP] finally decided to work for inclusiveness without any discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, colour or sect.

He claimed that those who had earlier been attacking him, were now showering flower petals on him.

He stated that only in compelling circumstances, he talked about the MQM. “The MQM is not a normal political party; it is in fact a mafia,” he claimed, and add: “That’s why, we challenged it”.

He alleged that Mr Hussain had been an agent of [Indian intelligence agency] RAW for the past 22 years and that agency wanted destabilisation in Pakistan. “We came to know about these facts through the documents which were with Scotland Yard and the agency admitted it.

He said that it was possible that even the British government was backing Altaf Hussain but he would not blame it without any evidence.

He deplored that if someone threatened the government, he was branded as an agent of RAW on the basis of the doctrine of necessity, but no action was taken where evidence was available.

He stated that what he had disclosed was just a tip of the iceberg.

“Even institutions know who is who and what is what,” he said.

He repeated his claim that former Sindh governor [Dr Ishratul Ibad] was part of the meeting he had previously mentioned in his statements. He said he wanted to bridge the gap between the Urdu-speaking community and other people.

Earlier, president of the club Wasim Khan welcomed the guests.

Published in Dawn December 10th, 2016

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