HYDERABAD: Pak Sarzameen Party’s central leader Shabbir Ahmed Qaimkhani has held Karachi mayor squarely responsible for the shabby state of the metropolis in the wake of heavy rains and said if he had cleared drains before the advent of monsoon season the city might not have submerged in rainwater now.

Qaimkhani, who is the party’s Sindh council president, said at a press conference at the party’s office in Latifabad on Monday that Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan would face peoples’ wrath in election because of its failure to deliver the goods. Elected public representatives of Hyderabad had also disappointed their electorates, he said.

He said that this government had failed to provide any relief to people and keep in check prices of essential commodities like sugar, flour and milk which had witnessed unprecedented rise.

He said that many factories had closed down due to uncontrolled loadshedding in Karachi where 12,000 industrial units used to export products. Despite tall claims of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party no development had been seen on ground in the province over the past 12 years of the party’s rule, he said, wondering where billions of rupees had been spent.

He said that PPP had made false claims of development in Sindh while MQM destroyed urban centres of the province. Karachi had turned into a cesspool after just one spell of heavy rainfall and if even union committee chairmen had spent monthly revenue in their areas, the situation would have been different, he said.

If this rain had come to Hyderabad, it would have wreaked havoc with this city where people had been voting for MQM for 35 years, he said.

He said that MQM’s mayors in Karachi, Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas were facing criticism of their voters and urged people to hold their representatives accountable.

He asked MQM leaders to explain to people why they had not been able to give Hyderabad a university yet and said that the party could no more hoodwink people.

Qaimkhani said that MQM leaders used to criticise Imran Khan but now they were sitting on his right and left. MQM’s number of seats had reduced considerably in last elections which reflected people’s disenchantment with the party.

PPP could not develop even Larkana where it had lost a by-election and ridiculed PSP when it held its public meeting there, he said.

He said that everyone took part in looting Karachi but nobody took responsibility to own it. The state must take notice of increasing sense of deprivation in cities lest people resorted to some extreme measures to take back their rights, he cautioned.

He said that people were demanding their rights, not arms.

Names of representatives of local bodies should be put on exit control list and audit of local governments should be conducted. PSP would take part in LG election, he said.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2020