Karachi on stake

In a welcoming step, Karachi’s three major political parties— the PPP, PTI, and the MQM-P — decided that the provincial government and Centre will join hands to address the issues of the metropolis. It was decided that representatives of the Centre and the provincial government would form an advisory committee to resolve the southern port city’s issues.

However, Provincial Information Minister surprisingly denied the reports of the formation of any sort of alliance between the parties. The information minister informed that only the bottlenecks to carry out development works and their solutions were discussed during the meeting.  

Karachi, also known as Pakistan’s commercial hub and the city of lights, is now plagued with innumerable problems. Due to the political turmoil, Karachi is now becoming a barren and orphaned city. In Karachi, innumerable unresolved issues such as water supply, drainage, power outages, sanitation, garbage dumps, and encroachments have made people’s lives miserable.

On the other hand, the concerned authorities, including the governments have been ignoring Karachi, putting their own interests first. Unlike previous governments, the incumbent federal government and especially Prime Minister Imran Khan is paying special attention to Karachi and that is the reason before Eid-ul-Adha he assigned the responsibility of cleaning the drains in Karachi to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

After every monsoon spell, the drainage problem in Karachi comes to the fore. However, after the NDMA provided services in Karachi, the recent rains did not cause many difficulties to the citizens. The power struggle between PPP and MQM over Karachi has left citizens mired in problems.

Mayor Karachi always runs away on the pretext of a lack of authority. However, the Sindh government has been reluctant to provide basic resources to the city due to a lack of acceptance in Karachi.

The elected representatives of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) from Karachi are doing their best for the betterment of the city, but administratively, it is more important for the PPP and MQM to be serious about the development of Karachi.

In the past too, Federal Ministers Asad Umar and Ali Zaidi have been somehow engaged in resolving Karachi’s problems. However, the recent statement by Nasir Hussain Shah has once again created suspicions and the issues of the metropolis remain on stake.