KARACHI: In a rejoinder to the ‘white paper’ issued by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, the Sindh government on Friday said it was an attempt by the MQM-P to revive the politics of hatred on linguistic grounds as the ‘hidden agenda’ behind this move was to complete the mission of MQM-London that introduced the politics of ‘fear and tyranny’ in the province.

Since the MQM-P leadership happens to be a `stop-gap arrangement’ of the MQM-L, the party had tried to revive the legacy of its founder but the people of Karachi understood very well who had hijacked their life in the name of`Mohajir politics’ and who had destroyed their youngsters under absurd slogans.

Foreseeing their defeat in the next elections, the MQM-P had attempted to misguide the people by quoting wrong and baseless figures about what they called the designated urban areas, said the rejoinder issued by four provincial ministers belonging to the Pakistan Peoples Party, Jam Khan Shoro, Syed Nasir Shah, Imdad Pitafi and Syed Sardar Ali Shah.

They said: “The Sindh government implements quota system in its true letter and spirit on a rural and urban basis, but the MQM-P wants to implement quota system on a linguistic basis, which is impossible.” The Sindh cabinet’s composition, they added, was the manifestation of PPP’s belief in equality and unity. The cabinet members hailed from different areas, spoke different languages

and believed in different faiths, and this pluralism was their party’s strength, they said.

“MQM Pakistan is talking about Urdu-speaking people of designated cities but what about the Urdu-speaking people living in rural areas?”

Resources

In response to the criticism over inequitable distribution of resources, the ministers said that 65 per cent funds of the Rs37 billion development budget of the local government were being utilised in Karachi alone.

About KMC and KWSB, the Sindh government said both the organisations were overstaffed by the MQM purely on the basis of favouritism, as majority of the recruits were MQM activists. Apart from Octroi Zila Tax share, the KMC received Rs500 million from the Sindh government to pay monthly salaries to them, the PPP ministers said.

They said the KWSB was no more under the mayor’s control, as the MQM had inducted 8,000 extra men into it. Most of these employees were MQM activists including some “hitmen and other criminals”. They demanded that the mayor tell the people who had inducted the killer of Imran Farooq, Shamin, in the KWSB. Basically, the MQM-P was worried about the loss of financial supply line to their founder after it had been choked by the PPP government.

About garbage, the ministers said the MQM-P had won elections in three districts — Karachi Central, East and Korangi — but despite the passage of eight months the DMC chairmen had failed to deliver. “The DMC Central gets Rs160.19m monthly OZT, East Rs100.19m and Korangi Rs120.31m.” They added that the Sindh Solid Waste Management (SSWM) Board, with the consent of DMC South, had outsourced the cleaning, sweeping and lifting of garbage works to a Chinese firm. The provincial government carried out work to remove silt and encroachments from Gujjar Nullah, Mehmoodabad Nullah etc. The Sindh government, which had launched Rs10bn development works in Karachi besides spending Rs12.5bn on K-IV water project, was not allowing the MQM-P to collect ‘extortion money’ through such projects and send it to London.

The PPP government also carried out major operations against encroachments to retrieve government land and amenity plots from illegal occupants. The mayor, instead of “wasting his time” during Dr Farooq Sattar’s press conference, should have come up with a white paper against land grabbers who were involved in china-cutting and to expose “criminal acts” of Hammad Siddiqi, Babar Ghori, Anwar Bhaijan and various others belonging to the twin MQMs (P and L), the ministers said.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2017