KARACHI: Accusing the Pakistan Peoples Party of neglecting residents of urban areas of Sindh in every sphere of life during its nine-year rule, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan on Wednesday issued a “white paper” against the “mismanagement and corruption” of the PPP government in the province.

The white paper, released by MQM-P head Dr Farooq Sattar at a news conference in the Karachi Press Club, contained 10 points pertaining to non-observance of the 60:40 rural-urban quota in recruitment and higher grades’ appointments, inequitable distribution of resources between the provincial government and the local governments and “usurpation” of metropolitan and district local governments’ powers, etc.

Accompanied by the mayors of Karachi and Hyderabad and other MQM parliamentarians, Dr Sattar said the nine-year PPP rule was characterised by poor governance, execution of non-transparent deals, rampant corruption, loot and plunder of public resources and discriminatory treatment meted out to the people of urban Sindh.

‘PPP neglecting urban youths in every sphere of life’

He said the sense of deprivation, alienation and insecurity in the people of urban Sindh due to their “non-representation” in the political, social and administrative spheres of national life had escalated during the past nine years.

He presented figures about the share of bureaucrats and officials belonging to urban Sindh in the provincial bureaucracy and police.

“Despite a 40 per cent quota in jobs, the sense of deprivation in the Urdu-speaking residents of Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur aggravates when they find themselves nowhere in police, education, health, revenue and other departments,” he said, alleging that the PPP had neglected the urban youths in over 250,000 jobs it had given during its nine-year rule.

“This ethnic cleansing of Mohajirs is not by accident, rather it is a well-thought-out policy of Sindhi nationalists who are movers and shakers of the PPP decision-making body,” stated the white paper.

Dr Sattar claimed that none of the five divisional commissioners in Sindh was Urdu speaking. Only two of the 29 deputy commissioners are Urdu speaking, he added.

He said of the 42 top provincial bureaucrats — a chief secretary, additional chief secretary and 40 secretaries — only six secretaries were from the designated urban cities. Likewise, out of 19 special secretaries, 47 additional secretaries and 138 deputy secretaries, there are hardly nine special secretaries, 11 additional secretaries and 42 deputy secretaries belonging to the urban areas of Sindh.

He said out of 18 senior police officers in the province — one inspector general of police, four additional IGs and 13 DIGs — only one DIG represented urban Sindh in the Central Police Office.

He went on to say that out of 1,920 inspectors, 4,867 sub-inspectors, 9,463 assistant sub-inspectors, 15,868 head constables and 87,457 constables not more than 150 inspectors, 756 SIs, 1,200 ASIs, 2,500 HCs and 5,500 constables came from the designated urban cities.

About the Sindh Public Service Commission, he said besides the chairman, there were nine members and none of them came from the designated urban cities.

Dr Sattar said that instead of devolving powers to the local government institutions in the light of 18th Amendment, the PPP government carried out legislation on the basis of its majority in the Sindh Assembly to usurp powers and resources.

Now, the Sindh Building Control Authority, Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, mass transit and transport, levy of municipal taxes, Karachi Development Authority, Lyari Development Authority, Malir Development Authority, Hyderabad and Sehwan Development Authority were in the control of the Sindh government, he added.

He said that of the total Rs700 billion development budget in its tenure from 2008-13, the PPP government had allocated only Rs28bn to urban areas of Sindh. “Billions of rupees on development schemes and projects have been misappropriated,” it was claimed.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2017