Fight for LG rights; While opposition parties decry Sindh new LG law, PPP govt sticks to its guns

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led Sindh government on December 11 bulldozed the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Act 2021 through the provincial assembly amid a loud protest by almost all opposition parties including the PTI, the MQM and the JI.

While the new law placed the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWM) under mayors of metropolitans, it further reduced the powers of the LG representatives as the provincial government seized control of all the educational and health institutions run by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC).

The passage of the new LG law was followed by a war of words between the PPP and the opposition leaders with some parties from the urban Sindh demanding creation of a new province.

Later, on December 21, Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah said the provincial government believed in legislation by consensus as it was still consulting with all opposition parties to improve the recently amended Sindh Local Government Bill 2021.

Speaking at a press conference, he said that the Sindh government was consulting Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), PML-Q, PML-Functional and all other parties on local government law.

Talking with reference to the new law, MQM deputy convener Kanwar Naveed Jameel said that the party will soon file a petition against it in the Sindh High Court (SHC).

“The PPP’s manifesto is to commit massive corruption and to steal elections. This unjust law will help this party perpetrate more corruption in the province,” he said, adding that the LGs cannot serve people under the new law.

He appealed to the Supreme Court as well as the SHC to take action against this violation of the Constitution.  Jameel said the MQM filed a petition in the Supreme Court in 2017, requesting it to enforce Article 140-A of the Constitution.

Article 140-A says: Each province shall, by law, establish a local government system and devolve political, administrative, financial responsibility and authority to the elected representatives of the local governments.

He said the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013 was also based on discrimination and usurpation of rights of people. “This new law is an extension of the previous LG law.

Speaking about the ethnic divide in the province, he said since 1972, the PPP has executed a well-thought-out strategy to do politics of ethnicity to attract the voters from rural areas.

MQM disgruntled leader Farooq Sattar also dubbed the new LG law “a black law”. He said the 2013 LG law was also biased but the new law deprives the LGs of the little powers that they had.

“The PPP has paved the way for dividing the province as it is giving an opportunity to the people of urban areas to demand another province. Implementation of Article 140-A could resolve many riddles and issues being faced by people,” he said.

PSP leader Arshad Vohra concurred with the MQM leaders and the problems could only be resolved by enforcing the Sindh Local Government Ordinance, 2001 after few amendments.

He said the Sindh government made full use of the 18th Amendment but it has not held a single meeting of the Provincial Finance Commission (PFC) award so far. “It is always reluctant to devolve powers to the LGs.  The new LG law deprives the Karachi mayor of all powers.”

He said the population boost is the largest problem of Karachi as there are 600 slumps housing over 15 million people. He said a transparent census could help a lot in changing the situation.

“Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani and others live in Karachi but they are counted in the census in their respective and native areas,” he said, adding that if a transparent census took place then the next CM might be from Karachi.

Mohajir Ittehad Tehreek (MIT) chairman Dr Saleem Haider told Bol News that the PPP-led Sindh government wants to make Karachi the biggest Goth (village). However, it has almost done away with the city or local government as it cannot tolerate the local government.”

He said instead of transferring powers to the lower level, the PPP government gave all powers directly to the government minister and indirectly to the Sindh chief minister.

JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said there is nothing in the new local government law. He said the JI presented some proposals to introduce an LG system very close to the Musharraf-era LG system.

He said ethnic politics benefit both the PPP and the MQM “which have been allies as they have been sharing power. They, however, ostensibly criticize each other to win support of their respective people.”

He said the MQM did not stage mass protests against this new law but adopted the drawing room politics by calling a multiparty conference and holding some demonstrations on a small scale.

He said the MQM ruled over Sindh during the Musharraf era. “It could do everything but it just enjoyed power instead of constituting some fruitful policies for the next generation.”

Naeem slammed MQM-H leader Afaq Ahmed’s demand for a separate province and said that he was involved in the massacre of the people of Karachi and should now tender an apology.

Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly and PTI leader Haleem Adil Sheikh said “both the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013 and the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Act 2021 are contrary to the Constitution and have usurped fundamental rights of people.”

He said the new LG law is an offshoot of the 2013 law. The Sindh government snatched all powers of the LGs. It wants the National Finance Commission (NFC) award but it is reluctant to give the Provincial Finance Commission (PFC) award, he added.

However, PPP Sindh President Nisar Ahmed Khuhro said the Sindh Assembly exercised its powers to present the 2021 LG law and passed it in the interest of people and the province. He said the opposition parties lost the chance to debate the law by staging a walkout.

“Now it is up to the discretion of the court to repeal it. The government has tried to give the concept of decentralization under this new law.”

Commenting on the PFC award, he admitted that a meeting of the PFC could not be called to develop consensus on setting the criteria but the last NFC award was also given in 2010.

He said some opposition parties have raised voice for a separate province while some banners also cropped up across the city claiming that “Rural Sindh is trying to conquer urban Sindh”.

“It is just a blackmailing strategy. They know how to make provinces under the 18th Amendment. Making new provinces is a difficult task,” he concluded.