Most of the political parties of Sindh have rejected the Sindh Local Government Act (SLGA) 2021 for failing to empower the grassroots organizations. While the PTI sought intervention from the President of Pakistan to safeguard peoples’ rights in the province, the Pak Sarzameen Party called for constitutional amendments to fix the problem once and for all. The Jamaat-i-Islami on the other hand decided to take to the streets and simultaneously approach the Sindh High Court against what it called the black law. The party has held peaceful protests for the last four weeks. During the period it has also held talks with the government which turned out to be fruitless. The party has however continued to hold rallies in Karachi without disturbing the peace.
The MQM also rejected a powerless local government but initially continued to maintain a low profile. In the middle of this month however the party joined hands with the PTI and GDA to hold a rally against the law in Karachi. Speaking at the gathering, the MQM’s Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said that henceforth their struggle was not limited to the reversal of the LG law and they would also take back the Sindh province from the PPP. This must have been seen by the Sindh government as a response of the ruling party and its allies to the PPP’s announcement of rallies against the PTI government.
Unlike the earlier rally, the MQM’s protest march on Wednesday was not meant to end peacefully. Instead of culminating at the press club, as reportedly agreed with the administration, the protesters made a beeline for the CM House where they wanted to stage a sit in. The ensuing teargas shelling and baton charge by police led to injuries to several. One of the protesters died due to reasons yet to be determined.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has promptly taken note of the violence “against MQM’s peaceful protest”, called for a report from concerned quarters and promised to take necessary action against those responsible. There should be a post mortem of the MQM activist to determine the cause of death. There is however a need to strictly avoid politicizing the incident or giving it an ethnic colour. Unless this is done, things could take an ugly turn in the province.
