KARACHI: Karachi Youth Caucus organised a town hall meeting for pre-election debates among some of the candidates of NA-247 constituency here on Wednesday.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate Abdul Aziz Memon, who has earlier too served as an MNA and a federal minister during the PPP government in 1993, said that all politicians contesting in the forthcoming elections were bound in their resolve to serve the people. “I am also prepared to serve the people of my constituency as I have been doing from the platform of the PPP, my party, for the last 30 to 35 years,” he said.

Sharing some points from his party manifesto, Memon said that they wanted to clean the city and solve its water problem. “Unfortunately, Rs50 billion has gone to the municipal corporations and yet they weren’t able to do much. Had this kind of money gone to anyone else surely they would have been able to bring a positive change,” he said, adding that desalination plants could give water to Karachi.

Candidates debate city’s long list of problems at town hall meeting

About what they have been doing in the past five years, since the PPP was the ruling party in Sindh, he said that they had provided jobs to people. “The PPP is also responsible for good social welfare handling,” he said. “Our party also remains focused on youth as we want a better future for them.”

Dr Afnanullah Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, who has a PhD and happens to be an academic and author, gave all credit to his party for bringing peace to Karachi. “Improving Karachi’s security situation was a clever strategy on PML-N’s part to bring life back to Karachi,” he said, adding that there was still a lot more to do for Karachi such as solving the identity crisis issue faced by so many people who line up outside the Nadra offices.

“But the PML-N does not do dirty politics. We don’t kill people and dispose of them in gunny bags; we don’t do extortion or form amn committees which do the opposite of creating peace,” he said. Then he added in Urdu: “Ye jo Karachi main sukoon hai, iss ke peechhay Muslim League Noon hai [PML-N is behind the prevailing peace in Karachi].”

He said good work speaks for itself and it will speak for itself again when his party cleans up Karachi in six months and resolves its water crisis within three years by building a desalination plant.

Young lawyer and civil society activist Jibran Nasir, who is also in the run, cheekily introduced by journalist Zarrar Khuhro as “only umeed [hope]” when he was trying to say “only independent umeedwar [candidate]”, said that during his work trying to open minds and rid people of extremist thoughts he had found the work of others compromised because they also had personal agendas.

“They only speak of caring for the nation ahead of the elections. They speak of getting elected to parliaments to look into accountability matters. I say to them that after getting elected to parliament I will first point a finger at myself before pointing it at others,” Nasir said.

He continued to say that he intended to set up 10x10 size rooms all over the city to set up computerised complaint cells. “Everyone there with a complaint would receive proper computerised receipts through which they can follow up the progress made in the matter. It will also help in accountability and transparency,” he said.

Finally, Farooq Sattar of the MQM-P said that he liked Nasir’s idea of computerised complaint cells. “I am with Jibran on the complaint cells idea because I feel it can solve problems. No one alone has the perfect remedy. We all have to work together on national agendas,” he said.

He said that there was also a need for community policies to help merit move forward. “Getting admissions and jobs is also a huge issue here,” he said.

Answering a question about how they would engage youth, Dr Sattar said that sports and events on the lines of the Karachi Literature Festival seemed like a fine way for engaging the young in healthy activity. “There should also be coffee houses where they can engage in literary talks with the holding of poetry and literature competitions. Otherwise we are moving towards violence, terrorism, extremism and fundamentalism,” he said.

In reply to another question about water scarcity, Dr Sattar said the PPP government acted on the K-IV project conceived years ago by the MQM in 2017 only.

Sattar hesitated a bit when asked how come the MQM could not do much for water and the piling sewage and garbage when Karachi’s mayor was from the MQM. Taking advantage of this, Dr Afnanullah started talking about the peace in Karachi again. “Where there is will there is a way. The PML-N wanted to clean Karachi of crime and so it did that. We succeeded where even the martial law governments failed,” he said.

Jibran Nasir, too, then asked the two candidates talking of desalination plants where the tanker mafia was getting its water from. He also questioned why previous governments couldn’t handle K-Electric, which does not generate power to capacity. He also wondered aloud why the PPP leaders of yesteryear talked of nationalising institutions while their leaders now wanted to privatise everything.

“Karachi does not need artificial leadership. I live in Karachi and if I am elected I intend to work for the constituency in which I live as I am also contesting from there. I am not like other people who live somewhere else and contest elections from somewhere else,” he said

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2018