KARACHI:
The tug of war of who really cares about the people of Sindh began in the Sindh Assembly on Monday but continued outside it too, as several lawmakers took to the press to vent their anger - or their happiness.
While the nationalists protested and the coalition fell apart, the ruling party withered all charges and the new system of local governance in Sindh - agreed between the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) - finally got the approval of the provincial legislature.
Outside the Sindh Assembly after the session, Jam Madad Ali of the Pir Pagara-led Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) related the legislation’s passage to the murder of the people of Sindh. “Please recite Surah-e-Fateha for the people of Sindh today, we have all been killed,” he said while speaking to the media.
“It is regretful that no one cares about Sindh. What has been done to Sindh comes at the hands of the party that has seen its leaders martyred for Pakistan. The same party has today martyred the people of Sindh,” he said. “This is even worse than the One-Unit System.”
The former opposition leader of the Sindh Assembly conceded some ground, however. “We are not against local governments but they [PPP] should have dealt with this seriously. Our demand was to take the ordinance back, incorporate the suggestions and amendments and then present it again. The law was brought suddenly.”
The PML-F leader was hopeful that the next elections will prove that the people of Sindh are with our leader. “The other parties - National Peoples Party (NPP), Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and its Likeminded group - are all with us and everyone knows this. “
Joining him in criticising the new system and the ruling party was NPP’s Masroor Ahmed Jatoi. “Why are they dividing the people of Sindh? The PPP brought this legislation in the middle of the night and then called the Sindh Assembly session in the same way,” the nationalist leader complained to the reporters.
“As Jam Madad Ali said, this is worse than the One-Unit System, as at that time only one person was termed a traitor, who had betrayed Sindh, but today this allegation holds true for an entire party,” he said. “The PPP doesn’t need the MQM, or the PML-F or the NPP. It holds the majority on its own. Then why introduce a law that is anti-Sindh?”
Masroor Ahmed Jatoi also pinned his hopes to the people supporting the party during the next elections to revert the law and to introduce a different one.
The ANP, the ruling party’s partner until the legislation was finalised, has also been critical of the way PPP sidelined its other coalition parties on the matter. ANP leader Ameer Nawab, who was quite recently the Sindh labour minister, tagged the nationalist line, terming the move as the first step towards the division of Sindh.
“In the past, they introduced separate laws for Hyderabad and Karachi and for the rest of Sindh. Then it was reverted to the 1979 system. Now what was the need to bring another ordinance?” Nawab questioned if the 1979 system needed amendments, why were the coalition partners not consulted?
All the chaos inside the assembly earlier and the massive resentment among the lawmakers seemed to have no visual effect on Faisal Subzwari of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. “We congratulate the people of Sindh on the passage of the Sindh Peoples Local Government Ordinance by a large majority,” he said unfazed by the critics. “The law will empower people in every city, town, village and neighbourhood. People who have not read the law are criticising it.”
“No amendments were presented by any member of the Sindh Assembly inside,” Subzwari said. “If anyone does have any objection, it can be incorporated as an amendment.”
Sharjeel Inam Memon, the PPP’s outspoken provincial information minister, seconded the statement of the leader of the party’s major coalition partner in Sindh and the centre also. “I kept saying in the assembly that if there is an objection, please mention it. These people are only protesting for the sake of politics,” he said.
Brushing aside the nationalists concern of dividing Sindh or its breakup, the PPP leader said that the party will always defend the province if someone dares to conspire against it like it opposed the Kalabagh Dam.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 2nd, 2012.
COMMENTS (6)
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The people of interior Sindh should respect the will of the people of Karachi and Hyderabad . We want the LG system as this best suits our need . You people choose what is good for you .Simple . Or maybe you want to rule and exploit Karachi by mean of quota system ?
@Sindhi: You already broke the English language. Congrats!
Crupt govt he want to broked our Lovely Sindh .... But we are not to accept this Ardinece ..... Jea Sindh ...
sindh is Pakistan belong to each and every pakistani.............stop this madness....and let someone work for good of pakistani people !.....good move from PPP and MQM.....!
I think we have to organize our political and administrative system from town and village level. 1. Every town and village should elect its head by voting. 2. Every town and village should collect their charities and distribute among their needy people. 3. Every town and village should responsible for girls and boys primary education. 4. Every town and village should responsible for the health of its inhabitants and hire the services of at least one MBBS doctor. 5. Every town and village should buy and sell their products in Pakistan and by doing so it can generate economic activity, people of different areas get connected and we see increase in our productivity. 6. Every town and village should help government of Pakistan to maintain its data about Pakistan, people, houses, livestock etc.
If this was for betterment of people, why this SPLGO ordinance amalgamated in the dark of the night and passed in just 5 minutes without any discussion. This bill serves only PPP-MQM for their power hunger and it will create acrimony and divide in Sindh. Media may not report the unrestness and anger of people of Sindh on such bill with truth but people of Sindh has rejected it like one unit was rejected. Dont push people of Sindh to walls. Otherwise you will be responsible for all consequences. People of Sindh faced dictators with great determination and they will defend their motherland's integrity too with full fervor.