KARACHI: A fiery session is expected when the Sindh Assembly begins a debate on the controversial local government law on Friday (today). The major opposition parties -- Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) — along with the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) have formulated a joint strategy to fight out the law on the floor of the house.

The provincial government is likely to face severe criticism from the opposition benches led by the PTI. The opposition entities have joined hands for an administratively and financially empowered LG institution.

The government is already on the back foot due to a series of protests – demonstrations, rallies and sit-ins — in different parts of Sindh by almost all opposition parties and also strong protests in the house against the recently passed Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Act, 2021. However, it appeared not ready to withdraw all the amendments.

Govt on back foot but not ready to withdraw all amendments

Leader of the Opposition Haleem Adil Sheikh, who is also the senior vice president of PTI, on Thursday held separate meetings with PTI’s parliamentary party leader Khurram Sherzaman, its MQM-P and GDA counterparts Kanwar Naveed Jamil and Hasnain Mirza, respectively, as well as other MPAs including Moazzam Abbasi, Shehryar Mahar, Nusrat Sehar Abbasi, Abdul Razzaq Rahimoon, Wariam Faqir, Muhammad Hussain, Javed Hanif, Ghulam Jilani and Basit Siddiqui.

Mr Sheikh told Dawn that the opposition parties agreed on the joint strategy.

“The Supreme Court has removed Sindh government’s unconstitutional black law,” he said, and demanded that a new local government law be introduced in consultation with the opposition parties.

He said that all opposition parties were determined to continue their struggle against the ‘black law’.

Kamyab Jawan programme

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Usman Dar on Thursday briefed PTI and MQM-P members of the Sindh Assembly on federal government’s ‘Kamyab Jawan’ programme and urged them to play an active role for its success.

Mr Dar told them that loans in three different categories were being provided to youths in a transparent manner to enable them to start their own businesses.

Applications for the loans were processed after verification of applicants’ data through the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) and were scrutinised as per the set criterion, he added.

He said that Rs30 million was distributed among successful applicants in the Korangi district the other day while the programme was going to support opening of 2,000 retail outlets in the metropolis.

He urged the elected representatives to encourage youths in taking part in the programme’s ‘sports drive’, and said that talented youth would be imparted world-class training in various sports.

Haleem Adil Sheikh, while speaking at the meeting, said that the struggle for rights of people of Sindh was being led by PTI. He termed the Kamyab Jawan programme a roadmap to economic empowerment of youth.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2022