KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan on Saturday questioned the “criminal silence” and “insensitiveness” of the Sindh government as well as K-Electric on a recent incident in which a young expectant father was electrocuted in a rain-related incident, saying the “pro-Sindhudesh government” was carrying out “economic killing” of the people of Karachi.

“Who is responsible for the death of the man whose child was born orphan within an hour of the electrocution of his father?” said senior MQM-P leader Khawaja Izharul Hasan while speaking at a press conference here at the party’s temporary headquarters in Bahadurabad.

He said that the elected local government system had completed its term on Aug 31, 2020 and unelected administrators had been running the LGs for the past one year and their performance was known to everyone.

‘Who is responsible for the death of the man whose child was born orphan within an hour of his electrocution?’

He said that the Pakistan Peoples Party had been bringing non-local officials and posting them in Karachi, ignoring the fact that they had no knowledge of the problems of the metropolis.

Commenting on reports that the Sindh government wanted to take over four hospitals of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), he said the provincial government should first tell the people why it failed to make a single model hospital even for the treatment of its own leaders, including former president Asif Zardari, despite ruling the province for the past 13 years.

Khawaja Izhar said that today Karachi was still facing a serious water crisis despite the fact that the Hub Dam had been filled as a result of the recent rains.

He condemned the attitude of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board’s managing director who, he said, was not even willing to take the calls of elected representatives from Karachi.

The MQM-P leader said that the education system in Sindh had been ruined as reports of exam paper leaks and delays exposed the tall claims of the PPP.

He condemned an incident in which the vice chancellor and other teachers belonging to Karachi’s Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Law University were manhandled and given death threats.

He warned the PPP that his party would not tolerate “badmouthing” against the MQM’s leadership and “we will use the same language and tone against their leadership right from Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari if they speak again in the same manner”.

Speaking on the occasion, MPA Mohammad Hussain said that residential and commercial buildings were being demolished in Karachi on the pretext of implementing Supreme Court orders but the apex court’s other directives were being ignored.

He said alternative plots be provided before displacing people.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2021