KARACHI, Feb 21: The Sindh Assembly repealed on Thursday the ‘Sindh People’s Local Government Act, 2012’ and revived the ‘Sindh Local Government Ordinance, 1979’, amid noisy protests by MQM legislators and jubilant cheers by PPP members.

It was not immediately clear how the move will affect the anti-government campaign, centred on the now repealed local government law, of the combined opposition comprising the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional, PML-Likeminded, PML-Q, the National People’s Party and the Awami National Party.

Angered by the move, the MQM’s coordination committee held a joint meeting at its offices in Karachi and London and severely criticised the government action.

It said the Zia-era local government law which had been revived was against Article 140-A of the Constitution and the MQM would oppose the decision at every forum through a legal, constitutional and democratic struggle.

The committee recalled that the 2012 act had been approved after prolonged consultations and debates and PPP leaders had described it to be in the ‘greater interest of Sindh’. But when the MQM decided to sit on the opposition benches, the PPP, ‘out of malice’, replaced the law enacted by itself with the 1979 law.

The committee said the MQM had always tried to promote harmony and unity among all permanent residents of Sindh, but by repealing the SPLG Act the PPP had again tried to drive a wedge between the Sindhis and Mohajirs.