Murmurs of discontent

It will be in the fitness of things that the PP clears the air on the matter to present its side of the story.

A major political party with roots in the urban centres of the Sindh province has made some serious allegations against the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party-led provincial government, venting its anger at what it perceives as exclusion of urban youth from the public sector jobs.

The discontent expressed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan over distribution of government jobs is not something out of the ordinary. But it’s been a while that the party has come out with all guns blazing. Even though now a shadow of its former domineering self, the MQM-P still commands significant following in Karachi and Hyderabad for its voice to be heard. Urging the premier national anti-graft buster, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), to open an inquiry into all public sector jobs given during the past 10 years by the PPP government, the party warned that if the ‘injustices’ continued, they will provide legitimacy to the demands for a new province in Sindh. MQM-P convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said that the urban areas of Sindh had been facing what he chose to call ‘economic terrorism’ during the over 11-year rule of the PPP as the provincial government had ‘snatched all municipal and service delivery functions to mint money’. While the choice of words appears rather harsh, there may be a kernel of truth in what the angry outburst contains.

Going into some specifics, he alleged that the PPP government had appointed ‘favourite’ officials in the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC), made illegal appointments in the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board by extending its jurisdiction and now posted 73 police officials of Larkana to Karachi. He was particularly livid at the way the provincial government had banned employment in Karachi Metropolitan Corporation as well as the district municipal corporations of East, Central and Korangi — all being controlled by the MQM-P — but government jobs were open for South and Malir DMCs, which are in control of PPP. There was no immediate response from PPP on the charges, but it will be in the fitness of things that the party clears the air on the matter to present its side of the story.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2020.

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