Three major opposition parties in Sindh on Thursday agreed to form a steering committee to gear up their movement against the Sindh Local Government Act (SLGA), 2013 and other “extra-constitutional steps” of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led provincial government.
“The steering committee would formulate a comprehensive and coordinated strategy and line of action for the protection of people’s rights and the devolution of power to local government institutions in a real sense,” said Opposition Leader in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh while addressing a press conference alongside Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) MPA Javaid Hanif and Grand Democratic Alliance Information Secretary Sardar Abdur Rahim at the GDA’s House.
PTI Parliamentary Leader in the Sindh Assembly Bilal Abdul Gaffar and other lawmakers were also present.
Speaking on the occasion, Haleem Adil said that all opposition parties were protesting against the “authoritarian law” as they believed that the SLGA Act, 2013 was in contravention of constitution and obstruction to the devolution of power to the grassroots level.
He added that neither the court would allow the promulgation of “extra constitutional” legislation nor the people would accept them.
“We are united and determined for the restoration and the protection of fundamental rights of the people of Sindh and we will not kowtow to any pressure,” he maintained.
“The black law that deprived LG bodies of their powers by concentrating them into a centralized authority had also irked the people of Sindh. ”
Javaid Hanif of MQM-P said that the PPP had failed to deliver in Sindh. The entire province is facing a dearth of civic facilities, including safe drinking water, education, health, sanitation and other amenities.
Sardar Abdur Rahim of the GDA said that the joint opposition had discussed the issue in detail and decided to take a joint line of action against the “extra-constitutional” measures of the PPP government.
He said that joint opposition would also take all political and apolitical stakeholders on board and would further expedite their movement against the “black law”.
He said that issue would also be raised in the Sindh Assembly.
Separately, Haleem Adil on Thursday expressed grief over the killing of a minor girl during an alleged exchange of fire between police and robbers.
Talking to media persons at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC), he demanded immediate action against the culprits involved in the incident. He also asked the Sindh government to depute women medico-legal officers in the hospitals.
Hermain, a four-year-old girl, was shot dead in Malir district on Wednesday night during an alleged exchange of fire between police and outlaws, and her body remained in the mortuary for more than 12 hours as there was no female medico-legal officer at the hospital to conduct a postmortem.
He said it was regrettable that the deceased’s child corpse was in mortuary for more than 12 hours and bereaved family members were waiting for the doctor. He said that robbers were running amok in Sindh and the government was not taking action against them.
“In my constituency, robbers barged into a house and after not finding valuable items they molested a girl, but the family did not launch a complaint because of a lack of confidence in police and the justice system,” he added.
