KARACHI, Nov 3: In their second round of talks, spread over four hours, the Pakistan People’s Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement on Thursday failed to hammer out a draft for a future local government system in Sindh.
The meeting, held at the Chief Minister’s House from 2.30pm to 6.30pm and attended by members of the core committee representing the two parties, however, ended on a positive note that the new LG system in Sindh would be “according to the expectations and aspirations of the people”.
The present local government ordinance, which superseded the commissioner system, was enforced soon after the PPP government sweet-talked its estranged coalition partner into ‘rejoining’ the government.
The ordinance, which replaced the reimposed commissioner system adopted by the assembly during the estrangement period of the MQM and the PPP in August, will expire on Nov 6.
Under the 18th Amendment of the Constitution, the governor has no power to reimpose the ordinance after 90 days.However, according to analysts, if the assembly was not in session, the governor could issue a new ordinance to provide a legal cover to the activities of the local government institution. Otherwise, the commissioner system would automatically stand restored, and it was not acceptable to the MQM.
If former home minister Dr Zulfikar Mirza can be taken seriously, he had said that the new trouble-shooter of the PPP, Federal Minister Syed Khursheed Shah, a close confidant of President Asif Ali Zardari, had given him an undertaking on behalf of the president that the government was not going to reissue the ordinance on the subject after the present ordinance expired.But with the initiation of a new phase of talks between representatives of the two main parties in the government to evolve a new local government system acceptable to both rural and urban populations, the PPP had revisited its stand on the situation to evolve a new formula to accommodate the MQM without compromising its stand to have a local government system that was familiar to the people.
However, what emerged from Thursday’s talks between the PPP and MQM representatives clearly indicated that contrary to the impression created by the first round of talks on Nov 1 that a blended LG system was likely to be evolved before the expiry of the ordinance, the second round of talks had dispelled it.
At the end of the talks none of the participants was available to answer the question whether a new ordinance would be issued by the governor before the commissioner system stood restored on the expiry of the 90-day period of the present ordinance based on the reimposition of the nazim-led LG system.
A handout issued by the press secretary to the CM House, however, showed optimism regarding the new system to be called the “Sindh Local Government System 2011” which, it said, would be presented in the assembly soon to give it a legal cover.
The new system would end the urban and rural differences, the handout said.
During the meeting detailed discussions were made and representatives of both parties presented their proposals and suggestions while many issues and aspects were reviewed in detail, the handout added without spelling out the main features of the new system. It also said that it was resolved at the meeting that more such meetings would be held.
Those who attended the meeting included Senior Minister for Education Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq, Minister for Local Government Agha Siraj Durrani, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ayaz Soomro, Archives and Special Development Minister Rafique Engineer from the PPP and Minister Syed Sardar Ahmad, Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmad, member of the Rabita Committee and former nazim of Hyderabad Kanwar Naveed Jameel, former Gulshan-i-Iqbal Town nazim Wasay Jaleel and MNA Wasim Akhtar from the MQM.