PM Imran puts off Karachi rescue mission

PM was to be briefed on mechanism for a federal role in Karachi’s management

KARACHI: Amid the rising political temperature following the federal law minister, Farogh Naseem’s remarks hinting at the possibility of the federal government assuming some role in the port city's affairs by invoking Article 149, Prime Minister Imran Khan put off his trip to Karachi, where he was supposed to meet members of the Karachi Strategic Committee today.

Ever since, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leadership, as well as Sindhi nationalist parties and political activists have been up in arms against what they term as the Centre’s attempts to interfere in the affairs of the provincial government’s affairs. The federal law minister later retracted his statement, saying he was quoted out of context. The issue, however, goes much deeper.

It all started with the Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar writing a letter to the federal government, complaining about lack of authority and resources to resolve the city’s civic issues. Days later, it seemed, federal minister for ports and shipping, Ali Zaidi, rose to the challenge and announced the launch of the ‘Clean Karachi Campaign’, pledging that he would clean the city in two weeks. Though he had the PM’s blessings, however, the federal government did not have a stake in the drive, with Zaidi clarifying that he had started the initiative in his own capacity and as a citizen of the city.

On September 8, Prime Minister Imran Khan constituted a committee, headed by the federal law minister, to formulate short-, medium- and long-term plans to resolve the issues faced by the people of Karachi.

A day later, Naseem enlisted the help of lawmakers affiliated with the PTI and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and formed another committee that would send its recommendations to the PM.

According to Naseem, the committee has decided to look at the legal and constitutional aspects of the issues being faced by the citizens for the last decade or so. The PPP claims it was never consulted or approached by the committee.

PPP cries foul

On Friday, former Senate chairman, Senator Mian Raza Rabbani said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government has failed to deliver and it should resign and hold fresh elections in the country.

Addressing a joint press conference with Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani, Senator Rabbani reiterated that the Pakistan Peoples Party government will not let anyone “rollback” the 18th Amendment.  “Those who wish to roll back the 18th Amendment and abrogate provincial autonomy live in fool’s paradise,” said the senator, who is the chief architect of the 18th Amendment.

According to Rabbani, before the 18th Amendment, there was a provision in the Constitution that allowed the federal government to intervene in provincial governments’ affairs, but that clause had now been annulled.

“A debate is going on over invoking Article 149 and assuming control of the provincial government’s matters, which is not possible.

The federal government has no authority to intervene in provincial affairs and can’t even issue directives. It will be an unconstitutional and illegal act,” he said.

The former Senate chairman said that the purpose of the 18th Amendment was to revive the original 1973 Constitution and empower provinces to run their own affairs.  “The incumbent federal government does not have a two-third majority to revoke the 18th Amendment,” he remarked, adding that the main element of the country’s Constitution was the parliamentary system which was not easy to be abolished.

Rabbani said that Pakistan could not afford further instability. “For God’s sake, do not create linguistic and ethnic divisions. The whole country will suffer,” he pleaded.

Meanwhile, Saeed Ghani, taking strong exception to the federal law minister’s remarks regarding placing Karachi under the federal government’s control, said, “The people of Sindh will prefer to die before allowing anyone to carve out another unit from Sindh.”

Ghani said that the Sindh government was ready to resolve all the issues in consultation with the federal government and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.

He added that an impression was being given by the federal government that it wanted to take over the provincial headquarter of Sindh, which was not welcome at all.

The information minister said that the Karachi Strategic Committee, formed by the prime minister must work within the ambit of the Constitution. “In the present circumstances, efforts are afoot to move the country towards the presidential system,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th, 2019.