KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan on Sunday demanded immediate constitution of the provincial finance commission (PFC) and spending of 50 per cent of the total taxes collected from Karachi on the city’s development.

“There is no just distribution of the revenue being generated from Karachi and the share Sindh has been receiving [from the centre] under the National Finance Commission (NFC) award by the anti-people PPP government,” said MQM-P leader Aminul Haque.

“The PPP government has occupied all resources and is not serious in redressing people’s grievances. We demand that the provincial finance commission be set up immediately.”

Demands immediate formation of PFC; stages a protest against water shortage and sewage problem in Malir

He was speaking at a protest demonstration held in Saudabad against the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board for not supplying water to localities in Malir.

A number of MQM workers and residents, including women, participated in the protest. The protesters were carrying banners and placards inscribed with anti-Sindh government slogans and demands like immediate restoration of water supply and to improve the sewerage system in Malir.

The chairman of the district municipal corporation-Korangi, Nayyer Raza, area MPA Hameeduzzafar, member of the coordination committee Muhammad Hussain also spoke.

Participants of the demonstration replied in the affirmative when Mr Haque asked whether they were in favour of enforcing Article 149(4) of the Constitution in Karachi.

He said that the Greater Karachi Water Supply Project, commonly known as K-IV, had been delayed due to the criminal negligence of the Pakistan Peoples Party-led government.

He also warned that these protests would not stop and if problems were not addressed the party would hold a big protest demonstration outside Chief Minister House.

Mr Haque, also an MNA from Orangi Town, said that Karachi had been facing a serious water crisis because of the delay in completion of the K-IV.

He said that the urban areas of Sindh never voted for the PPP. “The incompetent and anti-people government of the PPP has been punishing the people of urban Sindh, especially Karachi, for not giving their mandate to it.”

He said that Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had himself conceded his failure in completing the K-IV project and he should resign. “An FIR must be lodged against all those involved in this criminal negligence,” he said.

He said despite the fact that the tax being collected from Karachi was instrumental in the development of entire Pakistan the citizens of the provincial metropolis were being denied the basic necessity of water.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Hussain said that the PPP government was neither doing any good for Karachi nor empowering local government representatives so that they could work for the betterment of the city. He said that it seemed that the problems of the people of urban areas could not be addressed in the presence of the PPP government.

DMC-Korangi chairman Raza said that he met the managing director of the KWSB several times but the situation in Malir remained same.

He said that the local government system must be enforced in accordance with Article 140-A of the Constitution.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2019