Pakistan: Prime Minister Imran Khan to find 'permanent solution' to Karachi's issues

Islamabad: Frequent power outages, water scarcity, long-standing garbage and drainage issues, and now the monsoon rains followed by urban flooding has left the residents of Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, frustrated and abandoned.

After the record-breaking rain devastated Karachi taking dozens of lives and destroying homes, Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the federal government would soon announce a plan for a “permanent solution to the problems” by cleaning riverbedsfixing the sewage system and resolving the huge challenge of water supply.

“We will not abandon the people of Karachi in their time of crisis”, the premier said as he directed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to immediately rescue the stranded people and provide emergency medical assistance, food and shelter to those in need.

On Friday, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail also reassured the citizens that the federal government is devising a comprehensive strategy to improve the situation of Karachi on priority. He added that PM Khan, after consulting his cabinet members, would soon formally announce the necessary steps to resolve the issues of Karachi – Pakistan’s financial hub and a city of over 16 million. The governor, who is appointed by the federal government, said there was an urgent need to remove encroachments and illegal dwellings on riverbeds, which is creating issues for the entire city. It was unfortunate that every issue of Karachi was politicised and “no one ever seriously addressed the problems” that aggravated the difficulties in the country’s economic hub

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) – ruling Sindh for the last 12 years and the major opposition party in National Assembly – has come under fire over the flood response by both the citizens and the politicians. “What have they done in the past 12 years?” Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar lashed out at the PPP. Akhtar, a leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), said the people of Karachi were facing “criminal negligence” on part of the party for the last four years. He also requested the prime minister to visit the long-ignored city.

The ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)’s central vice president and parliamentary leader in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh also grilled the PPP performance in the last decade, adding that the political party had failed to do the job in 12 years, which “the NDMA has done in five days”.

PM Khan earlier tasked the federal disaster management agency, NDMA, to clean Karachi’s clogged drains and remove tons of garbage blocking the flow of water.