Karachi mayor delivers tearful swan song
In a rare show of emotion, the outgoing Karachi mayor Wasim Akhtar broke into tears and tossed a set of papers in frustration over "the residents of Karachi facing Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP's) criminal negligence over the past four years," as he addressed the last press conference of his tenure on Monday.
"The PPP did not allow me to perform," he lamented. "I wrote several letters to the Sindh government, as well as the federal government to resolve Karachi's problems, but didn't get a single reply."
Akhtar decried Karachi being orphaned, deprived of even basic facilities and facing a plethora of civic issues despite generating the lions' share of the country's revenue.
"People here are dying of electrocution and compelled to drink contaminated water. Why don't you poison and kill them once and for all?" he said irately. Tossing away a set of papers he claimed were letters he had written to the government for finding a solution to Karachi's problems, he broke into tears.
Referring to the addition of a seventh district - Keamari - to the city, he said, "The Sindh government considers Karachi an ATM machine and now wants to bifurcate it." The mayor went on to term the move "illegal."
He claimed the PPP had been in the grip of "wadera mentality" [feudal mentality] which barred it from empowering local bodies.
Accusing the PPP of not providing him any funds, he dubbed it not just the provincial government's failure, but also of Article 140-A of the Constitution.
He claimed he had received just Rs500 million by the Sindh government for cleaning nullahs, and that too on the directives of the Supreme Court.
Akhtar, stressing that the solution to the city's problems lay in empowering local government bodies, said he had filed a petition in this regard in the apex court and urged the judiciary to take it up.
Referring to the urban flooding in Karachi after monsoon rains, the mayor said he had been highlighting the problems of improper sewerage and drainage for the last four years, but they were only addressed after the prime minister and the SC took notice.
Akhtar also recounted the milestones achieved during his tenure as the mayor. "We took charge in a scenario of severe crisis, when most of the departments under the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation were dysfunctional. But we didn't give up and made most of them functional," he said.
The mayor went on, "I fought for amending the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013, and that is why relevant authorities' attention, even if marginally, was drawn towards the matter."
He claimed that there was a shortfall of Rs6 billion in the Annual Development Programme, yet to be furnished by the provincial government, and urged the Centre to show seriousness towards Karachi as it supported the entire country.
"Karachi needs special attention as it is the economic engine of Pakistan," he said, drawing his last address as the mayor to a close.
WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM DNA
Published in The Express Tribune, August 25th, 2020.