Centre-Sindh consensus
If winter comes, they say, can spring be far behind. At long last the federal and Sindh governments have reached the much-needed consensus to work together to set things right in the long ailing city of Karachi. The development should come as a good tiding for the city residents and for all those who have the good of the city and of the nation at heart. In recent days, the PTI, the ruling party at the Centre, its Karachi-based ally the MQM-Pakistan and the PPP indulged in much mutual recrimination over governance issues of the city while civic conditions in the city moved on a trajectory of drift and decay.
At a recent meeting held at the Governor House Karachi, the three parties have agreed to work together to solve the longstanding civic problems of Karachi. In this connection, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Education Minister Saeed Ghani and Information Minster Syed Nasir Hussain Shah met Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, Federal Minister Asad Umar and Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar. According to the information minister, NDMA Chairman Lt Gen Mohammad Afzal also attended the meeting. Nasir Shah said the Sindh chief minister and Federal Minster Asad Umar discussed the removal of hurdles in the way of the city’s development and the resolution of its issues. He, however, denied the setting up of a committee comprising members from the three parties. He admitted that the city was the responsibility of the provincial government and claimed that it was doing it to the best of its capabilities. He asserted that some problems cropped up in the execution of projects because together with provincial agencies, federal entities, including cantonment boards, the DHA and the KPT, also functioned in the city.
In order to remove these bottlenecks, the chief minister and his ministers met the federal minister to discuss ways and means to overcome these bottlenecks. Now that the three parties have decided to walk hand in hand, we believe deep in our hearts we shall soon overcome the issues and problems of Karachi.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 18th, 2020.
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