KARACHI: The Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) staged on Sunday its first rally in Karachi which seemed successful to a large extent where its founding chief and former city mayor Mustafa Kamal hinted at devolution of powers and strong local bodies’ system as key points of his manifesto saying his party “would not support and accept the democracy which deprives people of their fundamental rights”.

Addressing at a gathering on less than half of the huge Bagh-i-Jinnah, Mr Kamal this time avoided direct criticism against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and its chief Altaf Hussain like in his past speeches and interaction with media and was more focused on future plans of his party.

“We will soon be going to every city and every district of the country,” he said. “We have been receiving enormous response from every part of Pakistan and soon you will be seeing us in Punjab cities to Balochistan’s towns and Sindh districts to KP valleys. This rally has just marked a successful beginning of this journey.”

Mr Kamal, who rose to fame at the national level for being mayor of Karachi, during his speech highlighted issues more related to ills of local bodies’ system, instead of national politics and other challenges being faced by the country. He called democracy a best possible way of governance, but criticised the country’s existing democratic system.

“No one can deny the significance of democracy,” he said. “But we don’t support such democracy which doesn’t devolve powers to the common man to help him solve local problems. We can’t support the democracy which authorises only chief ministers and ministers to regulate even water supply and sanitary system. If you want democracy to strengthen you have to devolve powers to the lower level.”

He briefly recalled the past of Karachi like he did in his recent speeches that how the city was witnessing bloodshed and violence but said awareness among people had raised hopes for a bright future of the city and Pakistan.

“We are not here for violence or to counter any particular party,” said Mr Kamal. “We don’t ask workers to quit their party or join us. We just urge them to learn how to coexist. We just want them to learn tolerance and don’t allow any group with vested interests to use them. We have to keep pro-Pakistan approach and not any ethnic or sectarian.”

Unlike Mr Kamal, his deputy and once key man of the MQM’s organisational structure, Anis Kaimkhani sounded angry and between the lines warned his former party over a recent incident in New Karachi where convoy of the PSP leaders was pelted with stones, eggs and tomatoes by women, forcing them to cut short their visit of the area.

“This is not Karachi of the past,” he said. “You should be aware that people can no more be fooled. You cannot turn our sisters and mothers against us through such dirty tactics. This is just a beginning and you have lost your senses. Be ready for the future when people carrying Pakistani flags would bulldoze the terror you have unleashed over the past three decades.”

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2016