Despite repeated failures to achieve victory in electoral tests, the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) led by Syed Mustafa Kamal still has high hopes of winning the coming local government elections in Karachi.
In a recent interview with The News, Kamal said the prospects of the PSP in the local government elections must not be judged on the basis of the party’s performance in the National Assembly by-polls.
“The brand of our party is based on the local governments, which is why I am much confident of winning the local bodies polls. The people of Karachi have no other option apart from choosing the PSP to resolve the city’s problems,” he maintained.
Kamal, who has served as the nazim of Karachi, said all the political parties, including the Pakistan Peoples Party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and others, had failed to resolve the problems of Karachi. “Allah has chosen me to build Karachi. When I became the mayor, I initiated mega projects which were completed under my supervision. And since then, none of the political parties have owned Karachi except using it for political gains and bargaining.”For the local government elections, which were earlier scheduled for August 28 in Karachi but postponed due to the rain and flood situation, the PSP has fielded around 200 candidates in the seven districts of Karachi.
Kamal said the PSP did not believe in electioneering by hanging huge banners and spending large funds. Karachi needed an honest mayor to work for the well-being of its citizens, he added.
“Every single person in the city knows that I served the people of Karachi regardless of their ethnic, religious and political identities. The only solution to the problems of Karachi is Mustafa Kamal,” he asserted.
The PSP chairman lamented that at present, Karachi was no more an economic hub but a city of problems. He identified a slew of issues in the city — broken roads, unavailability of clean drinking water, overflowing gutters, heaps of garbage on thoroughfares, non-functioning schools and colleges, overburdened hospitals, absence of staff at basic health units, and of course, lawlessness.
“The people of Karachi are suffering from numerous issues due to incompetence of the MQM-P and the PPP but these parties still want to rule the city.”
Regarding his former party MQM, he said he had no enmity with any MQM leader, but he was against their ‘ideology of violent politics’. About Farooq Sattar, another disgruntled leader of the MQM, he said he had no personal contact with him.
Kamal categorically dismissed the impression that the PSP was a faction of the MQM. “The PSP is not a faction of the MQM. We came with a new ideology believing that everyone should have the right to live with harmony and peace.”
About the missing political workers of the MQM, he said he helped recover as many as 525 missing persons and currently only 23 persons were missing. “Whenever the families of missing persons approached us, I helped them but after the recovery of their loved ones, I never held press conferences.”
He reiterated the longstanding demand of his party for an empowered mayor. He recalled that the PSP staged a six-day sit-in against the provincial government demanding devolution of power and strengthening of the local governments.
“We demand three constitutional amendments. The powers of local governments should be clearly explained in the Constitution. Secondly, the Provincial Finance Commission award should be implemented on the lines of the National Finance Commission award. Our third demand is that the elections for the National and provincial assemblies should not be held until the local government elections have taken place.”
Kamal was of the view that after the emergence of his party, the city observed peace and all the violent elements of political parties left the city or went behind the bars. “I don’t think that the reason behind the MQM-P’s defeat in the by-poll of NA-245 was the boycott of the MQM-London. Dozens of political parties supported the MQM-P to win the by-poll but they could not resuscitate the dying politics of the MQM-P,” he said.
He stated that he had a great plan to unite the people of Karachi, but he would not disclose that plan right now. “At the right time, I will tell what I was planning.” The PSP chairman also negated the impression that his party was launched by the establishment. “If the PSP was launched by the establishment, it would have MPAs and MNAs. I have no support of the establishment. We are struggling as true political workers do. We don’t need the support of any establishment. What we need is only the support of the public.”