THIS is with reference to the report ‘Complain to me about Sindh govt, Bilawal tells traders’ (Jan 29). The huddle took place between the top-tier leadership of the ruling party in Sindh and the Karachi-based business community.

Speeches and tall claims were made, jokes were shared, and the usual cliché statements were issued. Nothing concrete came out of the gathering.

Interestingly, the rather hurried meeting was called after a business community leader appealed to a senior member of the ruling party in the centre in which he requested that the current Sindh chief minister be replaced with his counterpart in Punjab.

The request may have upset the Sindh government, but it resonated perfectly well with the sentiments of the people of Karachi because there has been a syst-ematic breakdown of utilities and services across the city; from broken roads to unhygienic living conditions, and from insufficient mass transit options to water shortage.

The ruling party has its chief minister and mayor in their offices, and yet the common man is suffering. Blaming the federal government or ‘previous’ gover-nments for all that is wrong in Karachi, and holding on to a few isolated examples in the health sector as the only claim to fame is simply an act of shying away from responsibilities.

The ruling party leader in Sindh should up his political game, start taking his ministers to task, and provide the much-awaited relief to the city’s people.

Arsalan Faruqi
Karachi

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2025