Article 149

Letter September 17, 2019
Inclusiveness should be heralded as Karachi's strength - the commercial hub that belongs to everybody

SUKKUR: PTI Law Minister Barrister Farogh Naseem’s remarks hinting at Karachi becoming legislatively separate from Sindh under Article 149 of the constitution seems unreasonable. Rather than talking about solutions by proposing inclusive strategies, the PTI law minister made a remark that has flared up ethnic sentiments. It seems that the current PTI government has sought to divert the attention of the nation from the issues it has failed to fix so far now. The inflammatory statement has also offered a chance to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) to again use the victim card for not being included in the committee constituted for helping to fix the long-standing issues in Karachi. Whatever sympathy the PPP was losing owing to its bad performance in Sindh it seems to be regaining with the ethnic card, with many of its once-dormant politicians now coming out as the ethnic custodians of the province.

Already under criticism for being fixated on the Kashmir issue, at the cost of ignoring other important issues, the federal government should have exercised caution against getting carried away by the political bitterness that can spark ethnic tension. The metropolis is surrounded by severe problems demanding immediate attention. Hardly any problem can be solved by political polarisation or on the grounds of ethnicity. Karachi being the commercial hub belongs to everybody, not just one or two communities. And inclusiveness should be heralded as its strength.

Riaz Mahar

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17th, 2019.

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