KARACHI: Political parties, business and industry leaders, rights activists and members of civil society unanimously rejected on Sunday the recently passed local government bill by the Pakistan Peoples Party government calling it against democratic and constitutional spirit and demanded a strong, comprehensive and autonomous city government system mainly for Karachi and other urban centres of Sindh.

They agreed at a ‘Stakeholders’ Conference’ organised by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf that the municipal organisations under the recently passed law would be ‘toothless’ and upcoming elections would become absolutely irrelevant for all true democrat forces of the province.

Some participants also demanded that the federal government take over the control of Karachi from the provincial government.

The PTI Karachi chapter organised the conference for consultation on the controversial LG bill that had been passed by the provincial assembly on Saturday.

Leaders of Grand Democratic Alliance, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, Jamaat-i-Islami, Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan, Awami National Party and other political parties attended the conference.

Sources privy to the event said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) were not invited to the conference. The participants accused the Sindh government of taking over all municipal organisations, which was against the defined rule of Article 140-A of the Constitution.

The conference came with a consensus resolution that demanded direct election of city mayor, financial and management control of all municipal organisations, including health, education and police systems by the local government and its autonomy in revenue generation.

Summing up the conference at a local hotel in his keynote address, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar warned the Sindh government to review its ‘feudal mindset’ before the people of the province take to streets against the ruling party.

“Karachi shouldn’t be begging for its rights from Sindh CM,” he said.

“We are here together and soon we would be again at some forum for a joint strategy. Because this isn’t a problem of any particular political party, it is about whole a system. We can’t just sit and see the exploitation of people in the name of ‘democracy’ or local bodies’ elections. The devolution of powers means you have to make local government responsible but at the same time powerful so it can deliver.”

Resolution

The 11-point resolution passed by the conference rejected the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2021 and vowed a joint struggle against the law at both parliamentary and legal forums.

“This conference demands all municipal organisations, health system, police and law enforcement system, environmental control regulation and education system under the local government,” said the resolution.

“Similarly the local government should be made powerful so it can control transport system, building control management, water and sewerage system and solid waste management. The municipal body at all district levels should be more power and authorised that it can regulate and enforce all affairs directly related to local governance.”

The conference participants also demanded financial autonomy for major urban centres and sought certain share and control on property and motor vehicle taxes collection.

“To make it more powerful and effective, tax collection should assigned at each local council level,” it added.

During his address, PTI Karachi president Khurrum Sher Zaman said that PPP had exposed its ‘dictatorial and feudal’ mindset despite assuring the opposition parties of strong and powerful local government system.

“This new system will be a helpless system,” he said.

“The mayor has been made subordinate to the chief minister. He’s not given powers to control even the sanitation and water supply then how can you expect that he under the defined rules would look after police and transport systems. It’s a black law. There’s no description of powers and resources to the mayor.”

Former Karachi mayor and senior MQM-P leader Wasim Akhtar said that it took him four years to convince political stakeholders and institutions that the PPP was anti-development and anti-Karachi.

“Now the PPP itself has documented this fact through this law,” he said. “This party which has been ruling over this province for last more than 13 years has never owned Karachi for a day. It is time for all true democratic and Karachi loving parties to get united on single point agenda — development of Karachi.”

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2021