KARACHI: Bahawalpur Mayor Aqeel-un-Najm Hashmi on Friday called on Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar at the latter’s office where they discussed matters pertaining to municipal affairs in Sindh and Punjab. Welcoming the Bahawalpur mayor at the KMC building, Mr Akhtar said he was the first mayor from across the country to have paid a visit to the KMC head office. He told the Bahawalpur mayor that he was ‘lucky’ to have the authority and funds for the development of his city. “But we have not been given the authority and funds,” he said.

Mr Akhtar demanded that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announce a large package for Karachi. Mr Hashmi said the prime minister wanted a progressive and prosperous Karachi and “we hope that he would announce a package for Karachi”.

The Bahawalpur mayor said as the local government was considered the nursery of democracy, the elected representatives should be given full powers. “We are with you for a prosperous Karachi,” he said, expressing the hope that the federal government would extend maximum support to the Karachi mayor for the development of the country’s largest metropolis.

Dr Arshad Vohra, deputy mayor of Karachi, Samiullah Niazi, a Punjab Assembly member elected from Bahawalpur, and Aslam Afridi, the parliamentary leader in the city council, also attended the meeting.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2017