An uneventful meeting

Complicated problems need complicated solutions

Over 1,200 deaths in Karachi within ten days caused by the heat wave which was augmented by power outages and everyone passing on the buck to others. Water crisis simultaneously making life difficult for the Karachiites. Add widespread corruption in the corridors of power, terrorist attacks and traffic problems and one can imagine what the megapolis has to go through on a daily basis. The issues directly faced by 22 million people were naturally high on the agenda of talks between the Prime Minister and Sindh Chief Minister. This was understandable despite demands by the Rangers to crack down on political heavyweights allegedly collecting Rs230 billion through illicit means to fund armed wings of political and religious parties.

The widespread suffering and misery in the city however failed to stop the two leaders from point scoring. Nawaz Sharif ordered the completion of the water scheme K-4 in two years offering Rs10 billion as federal contribution. When he reminded that he was giving Rs8 billion for the Green Line Rapid Transit System, Qaim Ali Shah quipped that the project would in fact cost Rs16 billion. The MQM had already rubbished the project by suggesting that the money should have instead been diverted to improve power supply.

The Prime Minster had held a meeting with COAS a day before. By Wednesday calls for immediate action against MQM had subsided after London Police disowned Tariq Mir’s alleged statement before Scotland Yard circulating in Pakistani media. As the Prime Minister is keen to maintain working relations with the PPP, he is likely to have tried during the meeting with COAS to get the differences between the Rangers and the PPP ironed out. In any case if the issues related to MQM and PPP were taken up during the talks, it was not considered useful to brief the media about them. The problems faced by Pakistan are so complicated that military alone cannot resolve them. The civilian authority has to take the lead to figure them out.