The MQM on Monday termed the passage of the local bodies’ ordinance from the Sindh Assembly a rejection of the system introduced by former dictator Gen Ziaul Haq. The party also demanded the government introduce the system in other provinces as well. Talking exclusively to Pakistan Today at the Parliament House, MQM Senator Col (r) Tahir Hussain Mashhadi said voting on the local bodies ordinance in Sindh Assembly was a choice between the systems given by Gen Ziaul Haq and one introduced by Gen Pervez Musharraf.
“And the representatives of the people of Sindh in the Sindh Assembly have rejected the system introduced by the Gen Ziaul Haq,” he said. Mashhadi said those who say new local bodies ordinance was the system given by another former dictator should correct themselves as the representatives of the Sindhi nation had amended and transformed his system into their own format keeping in view the interest of the people. The MQM senator was of the view that the local bodies system was an internationally recognized system that was being practiced in many developed countries, as it was considered to be a system that could deliver directly to the people. He said local bodies always remained a pillar of democracy. To a question, he said the opposition of the local bodies system and the ordinance by the ANP did not matter as eth ANP had only two members in the Sindh Assembly. Calling the passage of the particular ordinance a historic event, Mashhadi said 99 percent of Sindhi representatives had balloted in favour of the ordinance and 159 votes of the total 174 were in support of the new ordinance. The MQM senator demanded the government introduce and enforce this local bodies system in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan as well.
