In ambitious election manifesto, key political party from Karachi vows to empower local governments

KARACHI: As political parties gear up for the February 8 national polls, Karachi-based Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) party unveiled an ambitious manifesto, vowing to empower local governments via a constitutional amendment, a senior leader of the party confirmed this week.
Founded by controversial politician Altaf Hussain in 1984, the MQM has been divided over the years into several factions. Once the most popular political force in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi and an important player in Sindh’s urban centers, the MQM-P has failed to take massive strides since it distanced itself from Hussain – accused of making anti-Pakistan speeches and promoting unrest – in 2016.
The party has historically held sway with millions of voters from the Muhajir community – Urdu-speaking migrants who came to Pakistan from India after the 1947 partition of the subcontinent – and has advocated for an empowered local government.
In its manifesto released last week, the party has called for a constitutional amendment to empower local government institutions. It suggests that 70 percent of the funds distributed by the center to provinces should be given directly to local governments.
Senior MQM-P leader Dr. Farooq Sattar said unlike Pakistan, countries such as Malaysia, South Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam had progressed steadily over the years as they had empowered people at the grassroots level.
“The magic is actually because of the empowerment of a common man through the grant of complete autonomy to the local government,” Sattar told Arab News.
The MQM-P blames Sindh’s largest political party, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), for deliberately refusing to empower the third tier of democracy. Last year, the PPP won local government elections in Karachi, which were marred by rigging allegations and boycotted by the MQM-P.
Sattar lamented that Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city by population, contributed significantly to the national exchequer but received only a small fraction of the money in return.
“Karachi is the hub of the economy. It gives away Rs. 4,000 billion to the national exchequer, and in return, it gets Rs. 40 billion, which is one percent,” he noted. “From the provincial government it gets half, which is Rs. 20 billion.”
He said a constitutional amendment that empowered and provided more funds for local government institutions would not only benefit Karachi but other Pakistani cities as well.
Sattar said he was optimistic the proposed amendment would be supported by the country’s major political parties, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
His party manifesto also addressed other pressing issues facing the country, including taxation, climate change, and agriculture.
It calls for a uniform and just taxation system covering all sectors of Pakistan’s economy, especially agriculture.
“The constitution says every taxable income must be taxed,” Sattar said. “But agriculture contributes 21 percent to the economy but there is no tax on big incomes of big feudal landlords.”
On climate change, he noted the party’s manifesto advocated a ‘prevention and cure’ approach. For prevention, he said his party would plant trees ‘religiously,’ whereas for the cure to Pakistan’s climate change problems, it would tap alternative energy sources like wind and solar power.
Karachi-based political analyst Faisal Hussain agreed that it was important to devolve powers from the center to the provinces and local government institutions. However, he expressed skepticism about the MQM-P’s ability to deliver on its promises, citing its past performances.
“In the previous governments, there was an [MQM-P] alliance with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and also an alliance with the PPP,” he told Arab News. “During that period, it could have achieved much in this regard.”
Hussain said it seemed as if the party would remain limited to “mere manifestos and emotional slogans.”
Policy researcher Sadya Siddiqui said the MQM-P had proposed “progressive and well-thought-out” environmental initiatives in its manifesto.
She praised the document for calling an end to the dumping of waste into the sea, and speaking out against discharging untreated industrial waste into the water.
“There is a sense of awareness regarding climate change,” she noted.
Siddiqui said the party’s manifesto also addressed the issue of public transport in detail, pointing out how the MQM-P’s manifesto called for checking vehicles’ fitness, introduction of energy-efficient vehicles, and discouraging carbon emission.
Senior journalist Imran Ahmed said other political parties, especially those who were in coalition governments with the MQM-P, should also be questioned for not delivering on their past promises. However, he said this did not mean the Karachi-based party should be let off the hook.
“In the past, no one could ask questions of that MQM,” he said, referring to allegations that the party nurtured a militant wing that indulged in acts of violence against opponents and law enforcers. “But times have changed and everyone will ask questions. If the MQM-P fulfilled its promises, it will survive. Otherwise, it will cease to exist.”