KARACHI – Weeks after the federal government had hinted at a plan to assume administrative charge of the city under Article 149 (4) of the Constitution, Karachi vociferously rejected what the centre had planned for it from September 27 to October 2.
Article 149, which allows the federal government to give directions to provinces on matters of “national importance” and for “preventing any grave menace”, is believed to have been given a trial run during the abovementioned dates, to check how the provincial capital of Sindh reacts to plans made for it elsewhere.
As it turns out, Karachi has rejected any moves by reiterating that no one else can decide anything on the province and its capital’s behalf.
“Just because they want us to assemble at a particular place on a particular day does not mean that we are just going to what they want. We won’t do what they tell us,” maintains Karachi-based activist Jameela Ahmed.
“They collaborated with rain to shuffle their planned schedule around for us as well. But we were having none of that. We’ll only do what we want to do and no amount of national interest or grave nonsense can change our minds,” said journalist Asif Mehmood