The Concerned Citizens Forum, a forum of civil society organisations, has made an appeal to the president and prime minister of Pakistan to put an immediate and permanent end to all calls for shutter-down or wheel-jam strikes given by political parties or any other group.
The appeal was made by Justice (retd) Rashid A Razvi, Fatima Surriya Bajiya, Nilofer Farrukh, Karamat Ali, former ambassador Mehdi Masood and Fahimuzzaman Khan while speaking at a press conference in Karachi Press Club on Saturday.
Addressing the president and the prime minister, they said that as both offices represent the unity of the federation of the country, they must ensure that the federal as well as provincial governments deliver on commitments; the most important of them being the security of its citizens.
Karachi, which is Pakistan’s largest city in terms of population and geographical limits and contributes a large chunk to the country’s gross domestic product, is currently engulfed with violence, resulting in deaths of hundreds of citizens and crippling economic activity. The livelihood of millions of daily-wage earners have been the most affected.
The citizens of Karachi demand that the country’s government and political leadership take immediate steps to restore peace and stability in the city so that economic activities in the city can resume.
After extensive consultations with citizens from all professions and walks of life, the Concerned Citizens Forum suggests the following action plan to save Karachi from the verge of collapse:
1) Immediate and permanent stop to all calls for shutter downs, wheel-jam strikes by political parties or other groups.
2) Protests and political rallies restricted to designated areas in the city and under no circumstances should be allowed to take place on main thoroughfares and commercial, industrial areas, as it invariably leads to disruption of peace and economic activity which has damaged the image of Karachi as a dependable supplier of goods and services.
3) Complete ban on display of weapons by political party workers. If workers of any party are found doing so, the party’s leadership should be held accountable for his actions. This will create an environment for complete deweaponisation of Karachi.
4) Ensuring that political workers do not commit murders or damage public or private properties; and if found doing so, that party’s leadership should be held accountable for his crimes.
5) The political parties should identify miscreants or militants within their ranks and expose them for appropriate punitive action as per the laws of the land.
6) Wall chalking inciting hatred and violence be declared illegal and provincial authorities ordered to whitewash all wall chalking with immediate effect.
It was also said at the press conference that the Concerned Citizens Forum will provide complete support to the government and the administration concerned for implementing this action plan to bring peace in Karachi.
