KARACHI: Pasban-e-Pakistan President Altaf Shakoor on Saturday said that the role of parliamentarians is crucial for the uplift of megacities and sought their help to ensure due rights for the citizens of the megacities.
These views were expressed in an open letter written to the parliamentarians which said that the latter has to play a very important and crucial role to shape the destiny of this nation and country needs no further elaboration.
He said: “Borrowing the words of Malcom Trunbull, it is your job, as members of parliament, to legislate with an eye to the long-term future, to look over the horizon beyond the next election and ensure that as you can what you do today will make our beloved country a better place, a safer place, for future generations to live in.”
He said who knows better than the parliamentarians that the urban development is key to a rapid progress and prosperity of every nation? “And you may have also personally observed that the megacities of Pakistan, especially Karachi, are badly deprived in terms of the needed attention, resources, powers and funds.”
He said the cities with a population of 10million or more are considered as megacities, and all over the world these megacities are given preferential attention and special funds, as they generate the lion’s share for the national economies.
Though it is an open secret that the megacities in the whole world are considered revenue engines for national economies, however, sadly, this is not the case in Pakistan, where the megacities like Karachi are still badly neglected, said the Pasban leader, the letter said.
The people of Pakistan earnestly feel that if the megacities of Pakistan are duly recognized in the constitution and get their due powers and resources, our country would further progress and prosper and become a real Asian tiger very soon, he stressed