Sindh opposition decries move to establish 7th district in Karachi

Karachi: Opposition political parties have decried the move of the Sindh government to designate a coastal locality of Karachi as the seventh district of the city.

The opposition believes that the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party has been introducing such moves to further divide Karachi for its own political gains prior to the next local government elections in the province.

The opposition parties said that the PPP’s Sindh government took no practical step to resolve numerous civic and municipal problems of Karachi that have been hampering the growth and development of the port city.

Prior to designating Keamari area of Karachi as the new district, the capital city of Sindh was divided into six districts: East, West, South, Central, Malir, and Korangi. Before Keamari, Korangi and Malir areas of Karachi were also accorded the status of district when the PPP was in power in the province.

This time the Keamari area has been declared the 7th district of Karachi when local government elections will soon be conducted in the province as the incumbent elected municipal leadership of the province will complete its term in the current week.

The opposition parties have viewed this move as an attempt on the part of the ruling PPP to expand its electoral mandate in Karachi before the next local government elections.

They said that creation of a new district was aimed at further dividing Karachi as the PPP’s Sindh government was least interested in developing the city.

The leaders of PPP said that creation of the new district in Karachi was being done purely on administrative grounds for better civic management of the area and to ensure welfare of its people.

Sindh Government’s spokesman Barrister Murtaza Wahab said that new Keamari district of Karachi had been established after splitting one of the biggest districts of the province in terms of population i.e. District West that is home to 3.9 million people.

He said that establishing a new district would not result in division of Karachi as Keamari despite being accorded the status of a district would remain an integral part of Karachi.

He claimed that the residents of Keamari had welcomed the move of the Sindh government.

Karachi’s Mayor Waseem Akhtar, who belongs to Opposition Muttahida Quami Movement, said that the Sindh government’s move to establish a new district in the city was only meant to make money and gain political advantage.

He challenged the government that it should hold a referendum in Karachi to ascertain opinion of the people before constituting new districts in the city.

Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, chief of MQM, said that instead of establishing new districts in Karachi, a new province should be created after carving out the urban parts of Sindh in accordance with the aspirations of its people.

Dr Farooq Sattar, a former senior leader of MQM, said that the Sindh government would use its bureaucracy to gain control over the land of a portion of city by giving it the status of a district.

He said that the PPP enjoyed no electoral mandate in urban parts of Sindh.

Afaq Ahmed, who heads one of the factions of MQM, said that Sindh government had announced a new district in Karachi in order to divert the attention of people away from the genuine civic and municipal problems that have long been unresolved.

He said that the Sindh government earned up to 92 per cent of its revenue from Karachi, but in return it allocates only three per cent of its budget for the city.