The ink of the Karachi Transformation Plan has barely dried, and the political wrangling over the implementation of the agreement has started. At such a juncture, what becomes more important is bringing the political stakeholders on the same page before fixing the grave challenges in Karachi. As petty rivalries, score settling and competing agendas take precedence along a huge gulf of mistrust between Sindh and the center, it becomes almost impossible to unite the leaderships on the issue of Karachi. Furthermore, after the Sindh government conclusion that the KTP is merely a tool through which the Centre aims to increase its foothold in Karachi especially after the comment over the ineffectiveness of the 18th Amendment, it becomes apparent that centralised control is not the desirable way forward and political devolution should be respected. If the concerns of the Sindh government are justified, it is important that the government realises that its local government has failed miserably. In fact, after the Sindh Local Government Act in 2013, the local bodies have largely become ineffective and toothless.
With the recent record-breaking monsoon rains crippling the social and economic infrastructure of Karachi, it is high time for all stakeholders to put aside political point-scoring and work together to uplift the miserable state of the city. But more than that, they should realise that “silver bullet” solutions such as pumping money might give temporary relief whereas a permanent solution lies in good governance particularly by empowering the local government that can steer the forsaken city away from years to neglect and towards the path of prosperity and development.
Hadia Mukhtar
Karachi
Published in The Express Tribune, Septe0mber 13th, 2020.
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