Farooq Sattar praises Saeed Ghani’s refusal to demolish houses in Karachi

–Special development package for Karachi should have been announced in second mini package, says Farooq Sattar

KARACHI: Senior politician Farooq Sattar on Saturday praised Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Saeed Ghani’s refusal to demolish houses during the ongoing anti-encroachment drive on the orders of the Supreme Court (SC).

“We expect similar statements from Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Wasim Akhtar,” he added.

While addressing the media, Sattar criticised the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Waseem Akhtar, saying that it seemed like the Karachi mayor wanted to demolish the whole metropolis as thousands of shops and several houses were turned into debris.

“Around 10,000 shops and 1,500 houses have been destroyed in the campaign thus far,” he told.

Meanwhile, a federal commission has been formed to regularise the PM’s residence in the Islamabad suburb. The commission comprises 12 members with the Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman as its convener.

Following the directives issued by the top court, the premier had submitted an application to regularise his Bani Gala properties in November last year.

“If the PM’s Bani Gala property can be regularised then people of Karachi also deserve the same treatment,” Sattar said.

It is noteworthy to mention here that the top court has also directed the authorities to stop permits for holding commercial activities on residential plots in Karachi.

Earlier on Friday, Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani had threatened to tender his resignation if he was forced to implement SC’s orders to demolish houses in the metropolis.

He said that the Sindh government does not possess enough resources to compensate the people who will be affected by the new series of the drive and said that he will not take any action that will turn thousands of citizens homeless.

Criticising the second mini-budget of the federal government, Sattar said that a special development package for Karachi should also have been announced.

“Karachi pays Rs1,500 billion to Rs2,000 billion in taxes and deserves an annual package of at least Rs200 billion … where is Karachi’s package which is its due right?” he asked.

Sattar also demanded a fresh census in the urban areas of Sindh and invited the prime minister and Finance Minister Asad Umar to accompany him on a city-wide tour to Karachi.

Commenting on the law and order situation of the city, the former MQM leader said that the security situation had worsened in the past few months and the federal and provincial ministers, despite being apprised of the circumstances, had decreased personal security of the politicians.

He urged the government to provide sufficient security to all notables and political leaders in the city.