Express News screengrab of MQM barrister Farogh Naseem speaking to the media after the court announced its decision.
KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Monday declared amendments to the Sindh Local Government Act 2013 unconstitutional, Express News reported.
A divisional bench of the court made the decision after receiving 10 requests from political parties including Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Jamaat-e-Islami, which termed the amendments to the bill unlawful.
"The court's decision is a welcome one," said MQM barrister Farogh Naseem.
He said sections 3, 4, 8, 13 as well as subsections 12 and 14 which had been added to section 18 of the bill were cause for disparities in the delimitation process. Therefore the court had declared these amendments unconstitutional, he added.
As a result of the delimitation, some constituencies had 10,000 people in them while others had 50,000 and there was no uniformity in the divisions, Naseem said, speaking to the media. The amendments that were against the fundamental right of 'one man-one vote' have been declared unconstitutional, he added.
The court said elections would not be delayed because of this decision, the barrister stated. He also stated that Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah had told him earlier that the Sindh government would follow the court's decision on this issue.
Zardari weighs in
Former president Asif Ali Zardari met the Sindh chief minister in Larkana and discussed the local bodies elections and the latest court verdict.
He advised Shah to form a committee of senior PPP leaders to meet MQM members and address their concerns over the local bodies bill.
ECP
Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) officials said the nomination papers were printed according to delimitations based on the amended bill. After the court's decision, the legality of these papers is now in question.
Sources from the ECP said the commission will meet today to discuss the impact of the SHC's verdict and whether the elections achedule should be changed as a result.
During the meeting they will also discuss whether or not the training of district officers and returning officers - which was scheduled for tomorrow, December 31 - should be delayed.
Delimitation
The court, in its 78-page decision, declared the November 13 notification for delimitation in rural Sindh, and the November 21 notification for Karachi illegal.
It further stated that the elections should be held according to the delimitation that was done for the 2001 elections, adding that if new delimitation was considered necessary, then an impartial forum should be made for that purpose.
After the court made its decision, Sindh local government and information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said that the delimitation process will be repeated. He added that the 2001 delimitation will not be used as it was done during Musharraf's term to further his own agenda.
'Black law'
Earlier, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) had rejected the amendments in the Sindh Local Government Bill 2013, terming it a ‘black law’.
On December 16, the MQM’s parliamentarians had held a rally from the Sindh Assembly to the Karachi Press Club, shouting slogans against what they termed were unfair policies instituted by the amendments.
MQM later reached out to gain support from other parties in a bid against the amendments to the bill. Parties such as the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Muslim League-Functional had backed the MQM.
The bill
The Sindh Assembly had passed the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2013 on October 31, bringing about 31 amendments to the law amidst a protest and walkout by opposition groups.
While representatives of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Pakistan Muslim League-Functional and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had staged a walkout, MQM members stayed back to vote against the amendments.
Major amendments
All town committees, which existed prior to the enactment of the Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2001, now stand revived under the bill. Meanwhile, 22 per cent of the seats will be reserved for women, five per cent for non-Muslims and five per cent for labourers or peasants.
One member of the district council will be elected directly, while the municipal committees will elect chairmen and vice-chairmen among members by “a show of hands”.
The powers of town planning have been taken back from metropolitan corporations and handed over to the Sindh Building Control Authority, under the legislation.
No council can ink an agreement under public-private partnership to start any project without the permission of the Sindh government. In addition, the provincial government can now pass an order to remove a member and refer the matter to the election commission to issue a notification in this regard.
COMMENTS (21)
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Congrats MQM & Democracy. Keep on fighting for the rights of Karachiites. Hope to get rid of ppp rule soon.
It has been a historic judicial and legal victory, unfortunately did not attract much attention by the regular commenters, very interesting
@Hasan: ET: Kindly help me with my right to reply to someone who has written to me: I am not a PTI supporter, nor yet a supporter of any political party for that matter. All in all, I believe in true democracy, which is not possible unless or until feudalism is done away with. So let MQM play its part along with other anti-feudal parties and make Pakistan really democratic. Best wishes.
@Hasan: "real problems of this very problematic city and proviince."....so you think feudalism is not a "real problem" of Sindh?
@Hasan: But look at the bright side of these parties.
@Hasan: But in the interest of establishing truly representative democracy all anti-feudal parties must cooperate and ignore the shortcomings of each other.
@Truth Told: I agree with you. And I wish that could happen But while MQM is talking real issues at the grassroots, ANP is lost and PTI is wasting time in populist stunts such as bringing down a security wall. My intention is not to start a pti vs mqm troll war, but really PTI, honestly, you folks need to wake up to and fight on real problems of this very problematic city and proviince.
PTIers has been showing so much concern for karachiites vis a vis MQM. How come they did not have objection regarding this local government bill? No comments from any PTI leaders. PTI was sleeping while MQM was fighting for karachites in courts.
A feudalistic measure has been rightfully turned down by the Court. Although, the MQM, the ANP, and the PTI are poles apart in many ways, yet all three are anti-feudal. So why don't they think of cooperating on a single point agenda of fighting and eliminating feudalism? Can they dare?
Congrats to all ! This was unexpected but a very pleasant surprise. Whether or not you like MQM, they deserve credit for leading this to a fair legal conclusion. Other parties should learn from them and try to focus on REAL issues like these, ie, democracy at grassroots level.
Karachi is too serious a matter to be left to Karachites, thought the PPP leadership. The PPP leadership in its feudal haughtiness in the form of LB amendment ordinance would have continued to further damage the situation until it arrived to a point of no return. LB Amendment Ordinance was a powerful and an unfortunate indightment of PPP mindset toward the urban Sindh, which has been dismissed by the SHC, kudos to all involved.
There was a strong presence of elements of master and slave dialectics in the ordinance where the master didnt feel the need to rationalize and the rights of the people of urban Sindh were completely ignored. There was an inexplicable disparity of population size which was given equal representation. This instituted inequity meant that a population of 10000 people will have the same representation and share in resources as that of a population of 50,000. The ordinance was deceit, hypocrisy and lies all rolled into one.
We in urban Sindh are Urdu speaking Sindhis and please be informed that we are as much a part of Sindh as anybody else in the province. Our forefathers didn’t gate crash into Pakistan but their struggle and sacrifices and in more tangible terms, their votes for the liberation of this land, was their entry ticket into this country. We will not stand for any attempts made to usurp our rights.
Round 1 of 2014 to MQM, you couldn’t have given us a better New Year's present. Karachites are profoundly grateful and await a brand new version of Mustafa Kamal with inexhaustible and infectious energy
i think we must not forgot the support of other parties like N Leauge Jamat-e-Islami Functional and others since the basis of the bill was entirely one sided and it was evident to be illegal hat off the judge panel as well who took this judgement against the ruling party setting a good precedence in the country.
Well done MQM. Congratulations on victory against feudal..
All will have to acknowledge, perhaps, grudgingly acknowledge, that MQM has shown unprecedented initiatives when it comes to policy issues and legislation. The above decision is the culmination of one of the many initiatives taken by MQM in the national interest. Proud to be an MQM supporter. MQM has produced finest legislative minds of the country, its recent success is that of a bill for representation of disabled people in National Assembly and senate. Also their policy brief entitled National counter terrorism policy is worth mentioning, and not to forget land reform bill and dewaeponization bill, which await attention. Great job MQM
Thats what i call Democratic Beauty !!! Well done MQM , for choosing legal way ..
Tribune, also mention the name of the Justices on the bench. They deserve a mention.
Congratulation to all true blue Karachites and the people of urban Sindh and those who believe in first and foremost tier if governance where power is devolved to the grass root level
Congratulations!
Excellent development!!
Well done MQM.
...surprising no comment posted ...regarding a good decision by SHC