Pakistan Today (Lahore)

Sindh: Opposition rejects talks offer till withdrawal of controvers­ial LG bill 2021

- STAFF REPORT

Opposition parties in Sindh Assembly while declining negotiatio­ns on Sindh Local Government (LG) Amendment Bill 2021 on Monday said that consultati­on regarding LG system was only possible if Sindh Government withdrew the authoritar­ian amendments.

“Sindh Local Government Act 2013 and recent amendments are unconstitu­tional and in violation of law of land and human rights and all the opposition parties will stage protest against it across the province,” said leader of the opposition in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh while addressing a joint press conference along with parliament­ary leaders of Mutahida Qoumi Movement-pakistan (MQM-P), Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) here at Sindh Assembly Building.

Haleem Adil said that all the opposition parties considered Sindh government’s informal offer for talks meaningles­s as the opposition should have been consulted before introducin­g the bill in the Assembly.

All opposition parties have consulted on the amendment bill and agreed that the black law had deprived local government­s of the already limited powers, he stated.

Sheikh said that they have conveyed their concerns to Governor Sindh Imran Ismail in this regard and have informed him that the bill was passed in an illegal, unconstitu­tional and non-parliament­ary manner. PPP knew that it cannot win the next elections by vote that is why they wanted to win through notes, he added.

“We also did not accept the Local Government Act 2013 which deprived LG bodies of Sindh especially Karachi of their powers”, he said, adding that now the PPP had introduced more amendments which were contravent­ion of articles 7, 8, 32 and 140-A.

Haleem said that the amendments enabled anyone to become mayor and chairman even if he was unable to win from his union council while the bill also lacks tenure of elected members and chairmen or mayor as well as arrangemen­t for interim period.

Furthermor­e, the secretary local government might delegate or deprive LG bodies from any of their power including levy a tax, he added.

Referring to provincial LG minister Nasir Shah’s offer, Sheikh said that it was an informal telephonic contact and if Sindh government was serious, the leader of the house should have contacted in a formal way.

PTI and MQM-P had already submitted separate LG bills in assembly but those were not presented on the floor of the house, he said, adding that those bills could be considered as input of the respective parties. Recalling the issue of Police reforms in Sindh, Haleem said that PPP had been pursuing their own interests under the guise of negotiatio­ns.

“PTI rejects ‘Zardarana’ system and will resort to province wide protest. We will stage sit in outside Chief Minister House if required,” he maintained.

Muhammad Hussain of MQM-P, speaking at the occasion, said that all the political parties of Sindh in or outside of parliament had serious concerns over LG amendment bill and they were protesting against the LG bill as all the stakeholde­rs – even superior courts – believed that people of province could not be provided with relief without delegation of administra­tive, financial and political rights to local government institutio­ns.

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