Some eminent scholars and activists belonging to rural Sindh have declared the 14-year rule of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) “disappointing,” saying that despite enjoying power and a monopoly in the province, the PPP had failed to formulate any long-term policy or launch a single mega project for the uplift and prosperity of the masses.
The PPP’s 14-year rule, including the first five years of having both, the federal and provincial governments, has been marked by poor governance, particularly in Sindh, including its main business hub, Karachi.
Scholar and writer Jami Chandio said that since 1988, the PPP has been claiming it has never been allowed to complete its tenure successfully, but from 2008, the PPP had full five-year federal and provincial government terms, and then another two successive provincial governments, yet it failed to achieved any tangible success in terms of governance, education, a reduction in corruption, merit in varsities after the 18th amendment, any public service or the local government system.
Chandio maintained that apart from some improvements in the health sector, such as the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) and some other medical projects, the PPP government had presented a visibly poor model of governance.
Chandio said the 18th amendment had strengthened the Sindh government, yet no long-term policy has been seen. He contended that it is difficult to find virtue in a party which calls itself pro-people and democratic, but has done little to prove that in concrete terms.
“I think just building roads and health and education facilities is not development. Where is the vision? I think real development depends on the services provided, the pattern of governance and the efficiency of work in government departments. Yes, I concede the government has built some roads and improved the health and education infrastructure, but it has done so randomly, without adopting a holistic approach,” said Chandio.
He continued that construction works offer many kickbacks, perks and commissions and open new vistas for corruptions. Only if the development brings about some improvement in human resources, services, institutions and governance, can it be called development.
“When we measure the human development index in 29 districts of Sindh and look at the public departments there, we find nothing that offers any hope. I think the government consists of people who run the government on an ad hoc basis,” he said.
As far as armed robberies, street crimes, kidnapping for ransom etc are concerned, there has been some let-up in the country, including Sindh. The credit for this goes to the army, which has conducted a clean-up operation, mainly to ensure the safety of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This, he said, had benefited the entire country. However, he added, while interior Sindh got some relief, there is a dismal law and order situation in Karachi, where a new wave of street crime is being witnessed.
Chandio suggested that the government form a long-term and sustainable law and order policy by imparting training to the police, instead of depending on the service of the Rangers.
According to Chandio, the worst epoch of corruption was witnessed during the first five-year tenure of the PPP-led government from 2008 to 2013. Since then he agreed, the corruption graph has fallen, but this he maintained is due to the national and social media, civil society and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), all of whom have played an important role in this respect. But he added, corruption in institutions, nepotism and favouritism still exist. And work cannot be done in public departments if bribes are not paid.
Commenting on the 14-year rule of the PPP, columnist and political analyst Amar Sindhu said that the policies and action in regard to education — from the primary level to higher education — and violence against women have been particularly flawed. She maintained that the Sindh government has not yet evolved a strategy or policy to improve the education system and it seems it has no will to revamp this long-neglected sector. After the 18th amendment, she said, the Sindh Higher Education Commission (SHEC) was set up and Dr Asim Hussain has been heading it as chairman since then, but there has been no significant improvement in this sector, she said, adding that the announcement of the erection of new campuses or the opening of varsities is not enough; the government should also regularly check and examine the working of the varsities and other education institutions.
However, Sindhu contended, it is not only the Sindh government to be blamed. From the judiciary to the police and other institutions, there is an utter failure of the system in regard to the ongoing violence against women, specially ‘honour’ killing, she said.
“There was some amazingly good legislation passed by the Sindh Assembly, but unfortunately implementing this legislation has left a lot to be desired, and the PPP’s representatives do not seem to be prioritising the issues being faced by women related to gender-based violence,” said Sindhu.
In regard to governance, Sindhu contended the entire country was in a terrible situation, and this had also impacted Sindh.
“Successive federal governments have given the provinces funds or earmarked budgets in terms of the National Finance Commission (NFC) awards or others during the past 14 years. I call for an auditing of these funds. The newly-built 136-km Karachi-Hyderabad M-9 motorway with three lanes on either side cannot be called a motorway, considering there is no proper road or lane for small vehicles. Heavy vehicles ply the road, with vehicular traffic from the Karachi port and the rest of the country plying this road. We need to know about the exorbitant toll collections and how much is spent on Sindh’s roads,” said Sindhu.
She said it was sad that Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had been compelled to write a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan asking for funds. Describing the distribution of funds as biased said adding it was the first time that a head of a province had to write to the PM in this regard.
Intellectual and Sindh United Party (SUP) president Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah said that the PPP-led government had done nothing, and had eaten up almost all the province’s funds during its 14-year ‘Raj’ in Sindh.
He said the Sindh government had filled their pockets instead of spending on schemes and projects for the localities of Sindh. Citing as an example of this, Shah referred to the much needed Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD) project, which the Sindh government had stopped work on instead of completing.
Shah added now there are reports that officers of local government have been strictly directed to bear all the expenses of the PPP’s ‘Awami Long March’ which started from Karachi on Feb 27, aiming to oust the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI)-led federal government. According to him, the officers of towns and tehsils have been asked to pay for the fare, the rent of vehicles and petrol, and arrange for the catering of food for protesters in every district of the province.
“The expenses of the protest march are being incurred by the provincial and local government, and are targeting the federal government,” Shah claimed.
He continued that the roads in rural Sindh are in terrible states of disrepair, and the traffic on them courtesy the long march could exacerbate this situation. As for the education system in Sindh, he said the government did not pay any attention to it.
He disclosed that search committees have been constituted in universities to single out new vice-chancellors. These committees come under the SHEC chairman, Dr Asim Hussain, he said, who gets Rs 20 or Rs 30 million for each appointment or posting as vice chancellor to any public university in the province.
Shah complained the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Islamabad is reluctant to give universities in the provinces funds, and the SHEC eats up all those funds that are available..
Shah maintained there are poor health facilities in Sindh where medical superintendents of district hospitals and the district health officers of Hyderabad, Jamshoro and Shaheed Benazirabad and other districts are appointed or transferred on the basis of paying huge bribes. How can these individuals bring about an improvement in ensuring services and medical treatment to people, he asks
Commenting on crime, and law and order, he said the situation was not bad in interior Sindh, because the government let police officers, including the deputy inspector generals of police (DIGs) and senior superintendents of police (SSsPs) do their work to curb crime. But he said, serious crimes, especially street crimes, are being witnessed in Karachi, and the government has failed to address this situation.
Secretary General, Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP), Comrade Imdad Qazi said when the Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), PTI and other parties chant slogans for giving rights to Karachi or of dividing Sindh, the temperature of nationalism rises, which benefits the PPP, helping it garner mass votes from the interior of Sindh. The people of Sindh are forced to accept the corrupt leaders of the PPP because they believe they protect Sindh’s unity. They know the PPP has not worked well and pocketed all the funds allocated to it during its consecutive 14-year rule, but it will never endorse the division of Sindh.
That aside, he said, the people are fully aware of the blackmailing tactics and the hypocritical face of the PPP’s leadership and the members of the provincial and national assemblies (MPAs and MNAs) who are exerting their influence and encroaching on the lands of poor haris (peasants) and even of progressive growers in Nawabshah, Sukkur, Larkana,Tando Allahyar and other districts at PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari’s behest.
While inveighing against Asif Ali Zardari, Qazi said his family transformed the PPP for the worse. When PPP founder Zulifiqar Ali Bhutto headed it, the feudal lords had influence, but the poor also had their say. Nowadays, he maintained, the province is completely in the hands of land grabbers and waderas (influential people).
However, he said it would be wrong to blame the PPP government for pocketing all the funds. He claimed the party had spent some funds on development, including having built main roads in Sanghar and main thoroughfares from Hyderabad to Badin, Mirpurkhas to Naukot, Karachi to Thatta, Sujawal and Badin. Earlier there were only dirt tracks for the residents of and travellers through those towns and areas, making it very hard for them to travel.
The PPP has not, however, chalked out a plan to develop Karachi in terms of transportation, infrastructure, water and the sewerage system, while Hyderabad, the second biggest city after Karachi, is on the verge of ruin, almost all roads there are run down, even if a few drops of rain fall, and entire tehsils of Latifabad and Qasimabad are inundated with rainwater because of a damaged sewerage system. Furthermore, there is no mega project to stop the rainwater from entering houses. Even 30 minutes of rain could destroy the locals’ daily lives.
Because of the PPP government having allegedly pocketed all the funds of local government, the staff of the municipalities and of the water and sanitation agency (Wasa) have been deprived of six-to-seven months salaries and other dues.
“I strongly support the devolution of power to the local government from the provincial government and call for some fruitful amendments to the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Act 2021 in the larger interest of the locals and localities. If the federal government gives the provinces the NFC, they must devise some formula to ensure to the PFC that every district will secure its due and fair share on the basis of population, revenue generation, poverty and other criteria as per the NFC,” said Qazi.
