Karachi Political Diary

 Karachi Political Diary

 Mubasher Mir

After the announcement of banning Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, Pakistan People's Party has not yet agreed with Muslim League-N. There are different opinions in the People's Party. Which has also been expressed, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is completely silent in this political environment, rather he is out of the country. The surprising thing is that MQM has also kept quiet about it. Although there is a strong impression about MQM that it will be ready to do anything at the beck and call of the powers that be, but after the above announcement by the federal government, the central leadership of MQM did not support it.

DG ISPR has made it clear that this is not just a military operation but a campaign to stop terrorism but negative propaganda is being done against it. He called political mafia but did not name any political party.

In order to prevent terrorism, it is necessary to execute the sentences given to the arrested terrorists. In 2015, the then Army Chief General Raheel Sharif started the execution of the punishments, after which the effects came in the form of peace. But in the six years of General Qamar Javed Bajwa, this process was a little stopped, there are still prisoners in jails who were convicted of terrorism, they should be sentenced to execution.

The environment of political uncertainty is still there, even though the Supreme Court's decision has come and will surely be implemented as announced by the Federal Government and the Election Commission.

Tehreek-e-Insaf will also be allotted specific seats in the Sindh Assembly, but due to this situation, the stock market has seen a sharp decline. Although it is a speculation and it is possible to fluctuate, but news of uncertainty tends to dominate the bearish market. The market is still at a high psychological level. Although industry and trade are affected due to inflation and sharp rise in energy prices in the country, investments are being made in the stock market.

Key figures from the business community, civil society individuals and organizations are openly discussing IPPs agreements. In this age of information, it has become clear to the public that public rights are not protected in contracts with IPPs. In this, the power plants have been able to earn billions of rupees without selling electricity. Surprisingly, many companies have been given further extension of contracts, which is being continuously burdened on the public.

The Federal Power Minister has also admitted that Rs 18 per unit is being charged as capacity charges, the government is also promoting solar energy, and has extended contracts with IPPs, while till now in Pakistan Energy sector not audited.

The public pressure is increasing in this regard, the federal government should take some action in this direction soon, even under the cover of the IMF conditions, the per unit rates of electricity are being increased while taxes are not being imposed on the rich. That's why the people may have an anxiety which is increasing day by day. While the leadership of Jamaat-e-Islami has openly expressed against these agreements, other political parties are reluctant to discuss it.

In the province of Sindh, K Electric in the city of Karachi, while in Sindh HESCO and SEPCO have electricity transmission, load shedding also occurs in many areas on both sides in such a way that people come to the streets , meaning load shedding in Karachi. Water supply to them has also been stopped.

Along with the heat wave, the monsoon has started but it has not yet rained enough to reduce the heat and humidity. Government of Sindh has been ineffective in controlling urban flooding, although cleaning of drains is being talked about but no work has been done on rain water storage. Sindh government's performance in dealing with climate change is very poor.

The security situation during Muharram has been satisfactory, for which the Prime Minister of Pakistan has also praised the provinces. There was no  incident in Sindh province either, but seven-year-old Priya Kumari, who was abducted while making Sabil from Sukkur on the day of Ashura in 2021, has not yet been recovered. When the civil society protested on Clifton, Karachi, the police also acted harshly on it, while the police are still helpless on the increase in the number of dacoities in the city and the dacoits in Riverine area have also become active again.

Karachi Political Diary.

 Karachi Political Diary.

Mubasher Mir

Nisar Ahmad Khoro, a senior leader of the ruling party (People's Party) has been elected as the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee in the Sindh Assembly. The Public Accounts Committee, considered the strongest and most powerful committee of the Assembly, is generally considered the right of the opposition. Because its responssibility is to keep track of the money spent by the government. The schemes proposed by the cabinet also have to be monitored and irregularities are also noticed. The Public Accounts Committee can also recover funds from the concerned departments for misappropriation of funds. Nisar Ahmad Khoro, though a senior politician, still belongs to the government benches.

However, political ethics require that the right of monitoring should be given to the opposition. The best example of democracy is that in which accountability is maximized. But in the Sindh Assembly, a member of his own party has been put in charge of accountability. How will it be possible for Nisar Khoro to bring the ministers to the dock, to direct action against a minister for the corruption of a department, anyway, this is a difficult task, but this step has been taken by keeping the moral values ​​of democracy above the threshold.

Among the seven members of the Public Accounts Committee, one member of the Sunni Ittehad Council (Tehreek-e-Insaaf) did not raise any objection. .

CDT police officer DSP Ali Raza was killed by unknown persons in Karachi. The late  was a close associate of Chaudhry Aslam, SSP who was murdered few years before, and had participated in many operations with him. Informed sources have revealed that he was receiving threats for a few days while his guards were also withdrawn. For those police officers and personnel involved in critical operations, their own security is also important, especially as they should reside in secure areas. While the reporting of their actions should also be done carefully in which they are not advertised personally. In this way, the mafia people become their personal enemies.

Severe heat is continuing across the province and water shortage has also occurred in many areas due to electricity load shedding. Due to which people have started a series of protests in different areas of Karachi city. Although the provincial energy minister has claimed that representatives of K Electric, Hesco and Sesco have promised to improve power supply, there are no signs of improvement.

The government has further increased the rateof per unit of electricity, accordingly the price per unit will become more expensive according to the rate of taxes. People are expressing concern that there should be a forensic audit of the electricity meters to see if the electricity per unit is being counted as per international standards or not. If any electrical device or light is powered by one kilowatt of electricity, the electricity consumed in one hour is equal to one unit. As the scale of unit of electricity is same in every country, the objection of people in Pakistan must be addressed.

People's Party and MQM's style of politics has been expressed surprise many times by the public, the rhetoric from both sides is still going on. The Mayor of Karachi is also a part of this rhetoric. It is strange that the mayor of Karachi, immediately after his election, was claiming that he will be able to bring important projects for the city of Karachi because the provincial government belongs to his party, while the center (Federal) also to them.

So far he has not been able to provide clean water at cheap rates, after the heat wave the prices of water tankers have also increased, like electricity and petrol it is also not within the reach of the common man. Hundreds of people have lost their lives due to severe heat wave in recent days. Most of them were those who suffered from dehydration due to the lack of clean water from working in the open areas and could not survive. In these circumstances, the Mayor of Karachi should ensure the provision of basic facilities to the citizens instead of rhetorical politics.

Jamaat-e-Islami has started a series of protests on this situation, Amir Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi held a protest meeting along with representatives of business organizations, which was also addressed by other leaders, the government should also consider peaceful protests as well.  Amir Jamaat-e-Islami has announced a protest sit-in in Islamabad on July 12. Protests have been going on since the budget, but the government is not even talking about negotiations with business organizations. The Prime Minister has announced in the National Assembly that the current budget has been prepared with the guidance and support of the IMF. Therefore, the chances of change in it are less.

It is also being announced to give free solar panels in the province of Sindh, it is surprising that the government has not announced to give free drinking water, but it is ready to give free solar panels. The intention of the government may be good, but what secret is being hidden in this news will be revealed soon.

Karachi Political Diary

 Karachi Political Diary 

Mubasher Mir

The verbal exchange between PPP and MQM has started once again. Both parties have maintained this position for a long time, both are allies of each other and at the same time ,MQM tries to play the role of opposition. The rhetorical battles between the two parties have happened many times and then they turn out as friends not rivals in a short period of time. Both the parties are now jointly close to the ruling powers but are gaining interests with their full blessing, giving the impression to the public that major conflicts have arisen between them, its not a weighty matter.

The political parties in Pakistan must understand that the accusations they have been making against each other for decades and then they come together, this does not do them any good in the public, but the people do not like this style anymore.  People are suffering from severe difficulties at this time. If the political leaders are trying to make non-issues into issues, it is their naivety that people will show interest in it, it is anecdotal that verbal bombardment used to be noticeable, now people are waiting for performance.

In the city of Karachi, people are suffering from load shedding of electricity. Rather, heavy loadshedding is being done throughout Sindh. Due to which there is more shortage of water, many areas are not benefiting from gas supply, so the ability to fight the heat wave is reduced, which is the reason where workers are working in open environment suffer from heat stroke and have lost their lives. According to the general estimate, the number of deaths in the city of Karachi has exceeded eight hundred.

Along with this, inflation has broken the back of the people. The government has also increased the taxes, the price of electricity and petrol has increased further. In such a situation, the two political parties of the province are making political rhetoric instead of working on solving these problems, which is unnecessary.

Also, if a journalist from the media asks a question to a minister, it was not tolerated, but the journalist's job has lost. The name is said to be Sikandar Bhutto, suffered from difficulties.

The difference between urban Sindh and rural Sindh in the province of Sindh is very clear. In this regard, the quota system was introduced, but it also caused problems. If the merit was kept in mind, there would not have been any accusations today.

Pakistan's political history is full of successes, failures and lapses in terms of politicians. Successes are few but mistakes rather blunders are many. This is the reason why the people of Pakistan are suffering today. If these mistakes are corrected, the future can still be better.

The Sindh Assembly has passed the finance bill for 2024-25, the opposition has alleged that the proposals they had given were not included.

Although the opposition has pointed out several important issues, among which many reforms in the education sector are inevitable, while the problems of slums in Karachi and interior Sindh are very serious, there is a need for a coherent policy in this regard.

Senior journalist and editor S.M Fazal passed away after a long illness, who was associated with Jang Group of Newspapers for a long time, was now living a retired life due to illness, Karachi Editors Club and other journalistic organizations mourned his death and expressed grief.

On the 103rd anniversary of the Communist Party of China on July 1, the Silk Road Media Corridor Committee congratulated the Chinese Consulate on the occasion, reiterating that Pakistan has strongly responded to negative propaganda against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor , will go on the road to progress.