KARACHI: Pak Sarzameen Party Chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal said on Sunday that the protest sit-in his party had been holding for the past 11 days was not aimed at toppling the government but for getting solved long-standing civic problems.

Speaking at a press conference at the protest camp outside the Karachi Press Club, Mr Kamal said his party did not want to adopt a violent path to get his 16 demands accepted.

“The issue of Karachi will be suppressed if we crossed the red zone [the city area where important installations, including the Sindh Assembly building, Chief Minister House and Governor House are located], shut the city or stage a protest sit-in outside CM House,” he said.

He said there was no politics in his 16 demands. “We are not talking about toppling the government...We want the government to give the people their due rights. [But] it seems that they are not getting it.”

The former Karachi mayor said that it appeared that the government was considering the PSP protest as that of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s. “We are not those who wrap up their protest on one phone call...We are the ones who would face all consequences and continue the protest till the acceptance of all our demands,” he added.

He asked the people of Karachi to support his cause if they wanted water, garbage lifting, better civic facilities. “If one million people gather at one place on my call, I assure you all our problems will start getting solved without calling a strike or shutting down businesses.”

The PSP launched its protest campaign on April 6 by staging a sit-in outside the press club. A delegation of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party had twice met the PSP leadership in an attempt to persuade them to end their sit-in.

The party had handed them its 16 demands that pertain to the announcement of the phase two of the K-IV water supply project, allocation of a 1,200 cusec water quota, to stop the rampant violations of building laws and commercialisation in Karachi, revival of the Karachi Building Control Authority, more powers for the Karachi mayor, including giving him administrative control of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, Karachi Development Authority, city parks, roads and hospitals and a special development package for Hyderabad.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2017