First there was an appeal to Asif Zardari, now Mohammed Khan Sial has asked Bilawal Bhutto to intervene, ‘An appeal to Bilawal Bhutto’, Oct 31. He seems to be quite upset on approval of SPLGO-2012 by the Sindh Assembly. But why so upset, what is his real objection: ordinary people getting power at grass root level, some administrative powers to be in the hands of elected representatives, large urban centres to be run in an efficient way? PPP and MQM are two major stakeholders in the province, they discussed, argued and deliberated over the local governments bill for over three years and finally reached on a consensus on this issue. General elections are few months away; whoever is the winner in 2013 elections may choose to amend the SPLGO — that’s the democratic way to handle issues. Strikes, lockouts, violent rallies, threats, blasts are not going to help the cause Sial is advocating for. By resorting to violent means, nationalists are themselves widening the gap between rural and urban divide. I will request Sial to clearly record his objections on SPLGO-2012, to let the discussions move towards a logical conclusion.
MASOOD KHAN
Jubail, Saudi Arabia
