In a hint of flexibility over the longstanding bone of contention between the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the former has intimated that it can withdraw from its strict stand on the Sindh Local Government Ordinance (SLGO)-2001, saying the bill is ‘not the last word’ and the local bodies system can be brought according to the ‘wider interests’ of the people of Sindh. Another serious controversy has recently unfolded after former Sindh home minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza returned from Malaysia and started speaking against tabling of SLGO-2001 in the Sindh Assembly, announcing announced that the local bodies bill will be opposed with the support of lawmakers from PPP, Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), National People’s Party (NPP) and Awami National Party (ANP).
“If the local bodies system bill is tabled [in Sindh Assembly] it will be strongly opposed by the members of PPP, PML-F, PML-Q and ANP. I am no more an assembly member as my resignation has been accepted and am free now,” Mirza had said, after meeting PML-F chief Pir Pagara at his residence Kingri House. “I will now do what people of Sindh want and today is the beginning of it.”
On Tuesday, a state-run wire service had issued a news item that the Sindh Law Department started preparations to call a Sindh Assembly session on October 20. However, both the Governor’s House and the Sindh government disowned the news.
Afterwards, a series of meetings of MPAs belonging to the PPP took place. It was avowed in these meetings that the SLGO- 2001 will not be allowed to pass from the Sindh Assembly, as it is against the interests of Sindh province.
Talking to a group of journalists on Wednesday, Pir Pagara said that his party will not support the SLGO-2001 if it is tabled in the provincial assembly. “We voted against the SLGO-2001 in Sindh Assembly and got it repealed some months ago,” he said. “How can we support what we opposed in the same assembly?”
“We are supporter of commissionerate system,” the PML-F chief added
In what will be considered a major shift in MQM’s stance, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad expressed some flexibility on the issue of local government, saying that the SLGO-2001 is not the ‘final or last word’.
He said this while talking with journalists at the Ojha Medical Complex on Wednesday. “For sometime, consultations among stakeholders on the issue had been halted and can start again. The issue will be resolved with mutual consensus.”
Replying to a question regarding Mirza’s allegations, commenting for the first time, Ebad said that every person can speak according to his ethics.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued from Nine Zero on Wednesday, MQM Deputy Parliamentary Leader in Sindh Assembly, Faisal Sabzwari, stated that the party wants a local government system that provides better facilities to the people and speedily solves their problems.
“The elected representatives not only maintain constant links with people but also are accountable before them,” he said. “MQM wants a local government system for the welfare of the entire province and it has been explaining its stance with clarity and cogent arguments in the negotiations with the ruling party.”
“The two parties [PPP and MQM] want to introduce a system that should not only be a source of progress and development in the province but also brings the urban and rural populace closer together.”
Insiders privy to the developments told Pakistan Today that SLGO-2001 will not be tabled in next Sindh Assembly session. “Maybe a new local government system with the combination of SLGO-2001 and local bodies act, 1979 will be prepared and presented [in the assembly].”
The PPP MPAs oppose the bifurcation of districts and support the restoration of old administrative limits of Karachi and Hyderabad, but the MQM’s flexibility on the issue can pave way for a new local government system after consultations with stakeholders.
However, the most important thing will be to see if the MQM is willing to restore Karachi and Hyderabad’s old structure – the main hurdle between the MQM and the PPP.