LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) emir Senator Sirajul Haq has held the PPP and the MQM responsible for the problems of Karachi and Sindh at present.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, he sought a thorough probe into the allegations against the MQM (about Indian funding) and added that the matter should not be wound up like in the past though the allegations were not new as Salahuddin, editor of a weekly, had gathered the evidence but he had been gunned down in the 90s.

He urged the prime minister to hold a cabinet meeting in Karachi taking all decisions in consultation with all political parties, and scrapping political appointments in departments and agencies of Karachi for fresh recruitment strictly on merit.

He also called for a 50-year Karachi plan and a Rs300 billion special package for the city.

The JI emir said the recent deaths in Karachi were primarily due to energy crisis which also caused water shortage.

He said the Sindh health minister had been from the MQM for the last 10 years but lamented that the health infrastructure in the province was totally ruined and could not attend to 3,000 people affected by heat stroke.

He said in the interior Sindh, law and order was deplorable as people remained indoors because of insecurity. Police were in the service and security of the VIPs only.

He said it was high time to attend to the law and order in Sindh failing which the people could rise in revolt.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2015

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