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.