The opposition parties in Sindh Assembly including MQM-Pakistan and PTI have announced staging a sit-in in Karachi next week against the controversial local Government law passed by the ruling PPP.
The opposition parties on Saturday staged a joint protest at Fawara Chowk in the metropolis against the PPP-led Sindh government, demanding it to repeal the “black law” immediately.
Opposition Leader in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh, MPAs Khurram Sher Zaman, Nusrat Sehar Abbasi, Khawaja Izhar, MQM-Pakistan's senior deputy convener Aamir Khan and others addressed the protesters.
They claimed that the recently-passed Local Government Act has stripped the local body representatives of key administrative and financial powers.
“This ‘black law’ must be abolished forthwith as it will make people from Karachi to Kashmore powerless,” said MPA Abbasi while accusing the PPP-led government of attempting to usurp the rights of the people of the province.
“All ethnicities of the province have united against this law… Asif Zardari [PPP leader] must be trembling after seeing all federal parties joining hands against them,” said PTI lawmaker Khurram Sher Zaman.
PTI’s Haleem Adil Sheikh said their movement was against the “corrupt rulers” of Sindh, who he said passed the controversial law through backdoor.
MQM-Pakistan leader Amir Khan said their sit-in against the PPP-led government would begin from city’s main artery Sharea Faisal near Metropole Hotel and added that they would not go back till the provincial government repealed the local government law.
He also expressed hope that other parties in the province will also join their sit-in.
The law, which was passed last month, has invited ire from the opposition parties, which accuse the PPP of managing the constituencies in a manner, whereby it can clinch a majority of seats in the local government polls in Karachi.
The opposition also demands direct elections for mayors in the province in line with other provinces.
‘Ghotki to Karachi march’
Speaking on the occasion, PTI Sindh chapter President and Federal Minister for Shipping Ali Zaidi announced that the joint opposition will hold a public march from Ghotki to Karachi on February 27 against the local government law.
He said Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, who according to him was advocate of provincial autonomy or 18th Amendment, was stripping the people of power.
“He [Shah] is a member of a mafia whose godfather is Asif Ali Zardari,” he added.