Youth are the lifeline of this country, says Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah

CM, Farooq Sattar, Mustafa Kamal address students in a youth conference at KU

KARACHI: The future of this country lies in our youth therefore they must understand national politics, fruits of development, importance of education and the development of economy.

This was stated by the Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah while delivering his speech at a conference, 'The Role of Youth in National Integration and Regional Connectivity', organised at the University of Karachi by non-governmental organisation Voice of Balochistan on Saturday.

"The youth are the lifeline of this country. They are the future of the nation, therefore their education and understanding of national politics, democracy and economy must be comprehensive," said Shah.

Replying to a question by a youngster, Shah said that the condition of graduation for a member of parliament was imposed by a dictator otherwise academic education has nothing to do with politics but rather the knowledge, experience, ability and instincts to serve the people and protect their legitimate rights is enough.

"Parliamentarians who were uneducated had done a wonderful job in the provincial assembly which is still on record," he said.

Commenting on the issues raised by Dr Farooq Sattar and Mustafa Kamal about the powers of local bodies, the chief minister said that he was giving Rs50 million to the Karachi Metropolitan Corportaion (KMC) every month and that his government was also paying electricity bills of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) for the smooth supply of water to the citizens.

"You are [now] crying for powers but when you had powers as mayor, you stuffed KWSB and KMC with unnecessary staff and today both the organisations have crippled under the burden of ballooning payroll," said Shah.

Disagreeing with Sattar and Kamal, the chief minister said that growth is very much visible in the city. "In the first phase, we fought out terrorists, mafias and outlaws and restored peace in the city and now we are focusing on development and within the next few days, the face of Karachi will be different and developed," said Shah, adding that he was getting Tariq Road reconstructed after 40 years.

The interesting part of the conference was when two rivals and former fellow members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Sattar and Kamal, faced each other where an awkward situation turned into pleasant conversation.

If we are willing to take the country forward and build its economy then we have to create ways and opportunities for the youth to prove themselves, said Sattar, adding that no country in the world has developed without empowering the local body system which is why the local body representatives should be given powers.

Meanwhile, Kamal said that the Pak Sarzameen Party wanted people to understand that those raising the flag of the country, no matter what party they belonged to, are all brothers and are united for Pakistan.

Kamal said that he and his party were working on the characterisation of youth, including rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents. He expressed that he wants to unite the people of Pakistan regardless of ethnic, sectarian differences and he believed that the youth can play a great role in bringing the people together.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2017.