Never talked about making Karachi a province: Farogh Naseem

Law minister says many things have been falsely attributed to his name

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Law and Justice Barrister Farogh Naseem has said that many things have been falsely attributed to his name, saying he never talked about making Karachi a province and only those people, who do not want to see the issues of the poor people of the city of lights resolved, are talking about it.

Talking to the media here on Thursday, the federal minister said, “Article 149 (4) does not talk about governor’s rule. The article can provide direction to the central and provincial governments.”

Barrister Naseem said, “Prime Minister Imran Khan does not desire corruption, instead he wants the local government to be effective.”

On the proposal of Article 149 (4) application, Naseem said the headlines in newspapers that the federation wanted to take administrative charge of Karachi were wrong. “Some people have made me a hero while others a villain in Pakistan. I have never talked about making Karachi a province as I am a son of Sindh. I don’t need a certificate [to prove it].”

Sindh up in arms over Centre's plan to invoke Article 149 in Karachi

He said, “Whatever has been done with the poor people of Sindh is in front of everyone. There is garbage lying everywhere in Sindh. We can approach the Supreme Court against the Sindh government as it is not implementing the apex court’s order regarding the Sindh Solid Waste Management.”

Naseem vowed to always raise his voice for the deprived people of Sindh.

“I have talked about empowering the local government in Sindh. Imran Khan is serious about the people of Sindh. Karachi is the economic engine of Pakistan which is it needs to be improved,” said the law minister. “We do not want to separate Karachi from Sindh. Empowering the local government is in the Constitution. First, there was a 12-member committee… now there is a 17-member committee. TORs have not yet been made.”

He said an invitation has been sent to Nusrat Sehar Abbasi, Mian Muhammad Soomro, Fehmida Mirza, Arsalan Ghuman, and others to become a part of the committee.

No plan to impose governor’s rule

Talking to the media outside the Parliament House, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said the government had no plan of imposing governor’s rule or emergency in Sindh.

Centre mulls invoking Article 149 in Karachi

“Federal Law Minister Farogh Naseem’s statement has been twisted and reported out of context,” said Firdous.

Naseem on Wednesday hinted at making the country’s economic hub a separate administrative unit. He had said one option with the federal government was to invoke Article 149(4).

“Through Article 149(4) the Centre can request the provincial government to hand over administrative control of Karachi to the former,” the minister had told The Express Tribune.

Talking with reference to Karachi, Dr Firdous said the city had been turned into a heap of garbage, adding that during the past 11 years, some elements had misused its resources for personal gains.

“The nation is expecting from the ruling class of Sindh to resolve the issues of the province on priority. People of Sindh in general and Karachi, in particular, are paying the price of the bad performance of the provincial government,” she added.

She said the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) MNAs and MPAs and other opposition parties in Sindh could not help resolve problems of their constituencies due to noncooperation of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led provincial government.

She asked the Sindh government to adopt the path of cooperation instead of confrontation and prepare a strategy in consultation with the federal government for the welfare of the people.

“Prime Minister Imran Khan would attend a rally in Muzaffarabad on Friday (today) to express solidarity with besieged Kashmiris. The joint statement of the UN Human Rights Council is a continuation of Pakistan's positive efforts on Kashmir issue,” she added.

(With additional input from APP)