Recently, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Gulzar Ahmed, lambasted the Sindh government on its poor performance. In his remarks he said, they do not have the ability to provide basic civic facilities and has mismanaged the resources of the province. If the available funds were used properly on education the province would have world-class institutions in Sindh.For the last two and half decades, the province politics and its resource have been managed badly.
During Musharraf’s regime, control of big cities came under Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) and it did not do anything for the development of the cities. They focused on gaining political dominance in the city and worsened the linguistic harmony in the cities of the province. But since 2008, PPP has been ruling the province and ethnic tensions have dropped. The law and order situation in Karachi has remained significantly better than Musharraf’s era.
Karachi is the largest city in the country with a population of 16,459,472. Though, the city is contributing 42 per cent to GDP, 70 per cent income tax revenues and 62 per cent sales tax revenue of Pakistan. Yet, this city has seen the worst because of political reasons. Who wants to control Karachi? What should be the status of the city? This is still a mystery.
Sindh is the political strongholdof the PPP. Thus, if it weakens its fortress — due to the bad governance and pays no attention to the development of interior Sindh — it would be a grave loss not only for the people but for the party, too
Since PTI came into power it has been after PPP government for bad governance and mismanagement of the resources in the city. The central government wants to roll back the 18th amendment or find a middle way to get control of the resources of the city. Recently, Federal Information Minister, Fawad Chaudhry in an interview with BBC Urdu he said, “The federal government is in restrained of resources.” He also said that federal government would try to redraft the NFC award for the making centre more resourceful.
PPP may have many flaws but one thing is to their credit, it has lessened the ethnic tension in the province and created opportunities for ethnic groups as stakeholders. Comparatively PPP government has managed the city problems better than the previous political parties. But one cannot ignore the fact that interior Sindh has been a victim of PPP’s bad governance. PPP has been elected for the third consecutive tenure yet the social and economic condition of the interior Sindhis seems to be the worst. For the last twenty years, Sindhi society hasn’t made any progress.
Sindh is the political stronghold of PPP in Pakistan’s political landscape. If PPP weakens its fortress due to the bad governance and pays no attention to the development of interior Sindh it would be a grave loss not only for the people but the party too.
The elected PPP MPAs and MNAs had done nothing to deliver their constituency in terms of roads, sewerages, drinkable water, schools and health. Nor it has come forward with considerable reforms in the police, education, bureaucracy or any other department of the province. The lack of the basic facilities enrage the youth, especially those who are aiming for a better future and modern Sindh. Through Sindhi social media, youth can be seen in rigorous criticism on PPP bad governance in Sindh.
Over the years PPP has declined and the legacy of Benazir Bhutto and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto has been lost. It is high time for PPP to revive its political role in the country. The political scenario of Pakistan is changing fast. After Benazir Bhutto’s death in 2008, PPP changed political lines under Asif Ali Zardari’s leadership. That was a reason the party did not well perform in the 2013 and 2018 elections, except in Sindh province. A number of ministers that held important ministries were close aides of Asif Ali Zardari and did not perform well. The party is not grasping political reforms and changing political realities even under Bilawal Bhutto. He still seems impressed by his father political aptness.
PPP needs drastic changes within the party. The old-style feudal hierarchy bases must be reformed, if not ended. Middle class and business class representation in the party should be increased. Through this, not only the party can create its relevance in emerging classes but it will bring positive social change in the province.
The writer is a senior lecturerat the Department of International Relations University of Sindh, Jamshoro