KARACHI -  Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) Chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal on Sunday gave 30-day ultimatum to the federal government led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Sindh government led by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to address the issues facing Karachi or else his party would announce its own plan for this purpose.

Addressing a public meeting on Sunday, the former Karachi mayor and member of the Senate said the port city have had enough and it was the time to put it on the road to development and close the chapter of ignorance and neglect. “We are not going to wait for the next general election. We want our constitutional rights now,” Kamal said. He hinted at launching a protest campaign against the government if the rulers fail to do something tangible for the people of Karachi within a month. He said the PSP would not announce any more of public gatherings; it would spring into action to resolve the issues facing the people.

Speaking to party workers at Tibet Centre on MA Jinnah Road, Kamal greeted Karachiites for joining his party’s public meeting. He said that people of Karachi destroyed the “biggest idol of cruelty” today.

A larger number of people from all walks of life attended the gathering. On this occasion, PSP volunteers performed security duty along with the police. The authorities had closed MA Jinnah Road for traffic due to security reasons.

It is pertinent to mention here that, this was second political show of Kamal`s PSP, as the party tries to fill the apparent political vacuum in urban Sindh. The party held its first public meeting in Paka Qila in Hyderabad on December 23.

Kamal said there was a perception that people of Karachi followed Altaf Hussain or the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, but today this perception was dismissed, as Karachiites gave their decision in favour of the PSP. Furthermore, he said, there was an impression that the Urdu-speaking community could not coexist with other communities in the country, but this impression was buried today. “We were being accused of being supported by the establishment of the county. Yes, I am man of the establishment as I enjoy support of Allah Almighty. I am here to bring people closer to each other with the message of unity,” he said.

He said from now nobody should call residents of Karachi traitors or terrorists. Today they have made it clear that they are not part of any anti-state conspiracy, he said. Now Mohajirs are meeting Pakhtuns, Sindhis, Punjabis, Balochis and others for a prosperous Pakistan. “We are the one who made efforts to bring them all closer to each other,” he said.

Admitting that it was a mistake to be part of Altaf`s MQM, he said that for 30 years “we thought that one person was the godfather of our nation, but now we have corrected our mistake and discarded that person”. He urged Prime Minister Nawaz Shairf and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to feed Karachi’s people and let the world know that rulers feed instead of killing people.

Talking about K-Electric, Kamal lambasted the company’s management and demanded that it refund Rs62 billion to people that it collected through overbilling before handing over company’s management to Shanghai Electric.

Kamal urged his supporters to focus on education and obey their parents. “Even if I’m murdered while walking on this right path, I do not want anyone to take revenge. I will present my case in front of Allah Almighty,” he said.

He said that people had enough of Altaf Hussain. “His wicked policies snatched education from the people. About 25,000 lives were sacrificed during his so-called movement. About 2,000 political workers were in prisons and our mothers were waiting for recovery of their missing sons,” he said. “It’s Altaf’s policy to kill more and more of innocent people to accomplish his nefarious agenda,” he added.

The PSP chief said that people of Karachi never wanted to take up weapons, but they were misguided by Altaf. He said the MQM chief was working on RAW’s agenda and wanted deployment of Pakistan Army in Karachi.

Turning his guns to MQM-Pakistan led by Dr Farooq Sattar, Kamal said that at the time of local council elections the MQM leadership did not mention that they would have any powers after winning the polls. “You always misguided the people and now again you are beating the drum of victimisation,” said the PSP chairman. “If you do not have powers then you should resign instead of confusing the people through fake promises,” he said.

On the occasion, PSP leader Raza Haroon presented a resolution and the participants approved it by raising their hands. The resolution demanded transfer of powers to local government representatives, a transparent census as per international regulations, eradication of corruption, supply of safe drinking water to Karachi, cleanliness in the city, a better transport system, parks, hospitals, education, jobs for people on merit and mega development projects for the port city. Later, Kamal added one more demand and urged the chief of army staff to establish four cadet colleges in Karachi and at least two in Hyderabad. Admiring the work of the army in Waziristan and Balochistan, he said it was good that misguided people had been given a chance, but the same policy should be copied in urban region of Sindh. Today, Karachiites have given mandate to the PSP leadership by passing various resolutions and no force from London or Rehman Malik can stop Mustafa Kamal from perusing these demands, he said.

On the occasion, the PSP chairman thanked Sindh police, Rangers, deputy commissioners and media persons for their support.