KARACHI - PPP ministers of Sindh government on Saturday said that the government would contact all the allied parties and protesting nationalist parties over the recently promulgated Sindh People’s Local Government Ordinance 2012.
Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, Law Minister Muhammad Ayaz Soomro and Muhammad Rafiq Engineer while addressing a joint press conference at CM House termed the local government ordinance an ideal system of third tier of government for the province.
On behalf of provincial government, the ministers said that government will contact allied parties - PML-F, PML-Q, ANP and NPP - as well as the nationalist parties and will share the ordinance with them. The ministers advised the allied parties and nationalist leaders to study first the local government ordinance and then share their reservations, claiming that the government will remove their reservations during legislation on ordinance in the Sindh Assembly.
Rejecting the impression of allied parties and nationalist leaders for two local government systems enforced through ordinance in the province, they said that there was uniform system in the province.
They said that metropolitan governments in other districts have been introduced on model basis; if experiment proved successful the same system could be enhanced to other districts.
Regarding secrecy and not making public the ordinance, the ministers claimed that the ordinance was in printing process, which will be tabled in the Sindh Assembly soon. The PPP ministers said that no one is more nationalists than the PPP workers are for the Sindh province, so the nationalist leaders should avoid alleging them of dividing Sindh through local govt ordinance.
The information minister criticised the nationalist parties and said that leader who can not win a single seat are criticising the PPP over local government law.
He also criticised the PML-N and said that PML-N has not a single seat in Sindh Assembly but while sitting in Punjab they are rejecting the Sindh local government system.
The devolution of primary education, health and other subjects to the local governments was part of PPP’s manifesto, which was signed by Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, so the PPP government has implemented the manifesto of Shaheed BB.
Law Minister Ayaz Soomro said that Khairpur district will declared as Metropolitan Corporation soon. He said that the police, revenue and other provincial departments were not devolved to the metropolitans and district councils; however municipal services have been assigned to the third tier of government.
The PPP ministers said that the separation of investigation and operation in Karachi police was notified two three months ago on the court orders to bring improvement in law and order and eliminate targeted killings in the city.
The PPP ministers said that the Local Government Ordinance was not final word or sacred document as government was ready to further amend if ally parties had any their reservations on it.