Naimat Khan
KARACHI: A day after he witnessed huge show of power by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan – his competitor for Mohajir vote –, Chairman Pak Sarzameen Party Mustafa Kamal got upset by anti-corruption report, which has alleged him of allotting 12,00 illegal plots during his tenure as Mayor Karachi.
According to reports citing an anti-corruption inquiry report, Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) Chairperson Mustafa Kamal has allotted 1,200 illegal plots of land in the metropolis.
The plots, according to reports, were allotted in the Mehmoodabad area of the metropolis when Kamal was the mayor of Karachi. The land was marked to be used for the construction of a treatment plant.
According to reports, permission has been sought to register a case against the PSP chairman. The request to register the case against Kamal is part of the inquiry into the TPT project.
The land meant to be used for the construction of a treatment plant was allotted illegally to residents of Lines Area, with the project still not functional.
Sources added that the total area of the land was 61 acres, which was divided into 1200 residential plots and the design of the project was also changed.
The change in design pushed the cost of the project upwards to Rs18 billion.
In June last year, Former MQM’s mayor of Karachi, Mustafa Kamal, became chairman whereas former Rabita committee convener, Anees Qaimkhani, president of the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP), the MQM disgruntled leaders had formed on Pakistan Day.
The party was launched by duo – Kamal and Qaimkhani – and both have secured top slots as expected.
Addressing a news conference here at Pakistan House, Karachi spokesperson of PSP, Iftikhar Alam, said Mustafa Kamal will be chairman whereas Anees Qaimkhani will be president of the party. Raza Haroon, former MQM minister, will serve as General Secretary of the party. The party’s affairs will be looked after by central executive committee and national council.
“Dilawar Khan, Saif Yar Khan, Muhammad Hafeezuddin and Asia Ishaq will be member of the national council,” he said, adding that the number of both the committee and council will increase with the passage of time.
He said union committees, media cell, women cell and other department will also be setup. “All office bearers will serve the party for four years after which elections will be held,” he said. Alam, however, didn’t disclose as what was the criterion of selecting the current leadership.
On March 23, 2016 the dissidents of the Altaf led Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), led by Mustafa Kamal and Anees Qaimkhani unveiled the name of their new party, and that’s ‘Pak Sarzamin Party’.
Mustafa Kamal, who launched the dissident movement on March 3, had stated in several news conferences – where several MQM stalwarts joined hands with Kamal-Qaimkhani duo – that he will announce the name of his party on Pakistan Day, with its manifesto.
Though claim to accommodate people from all over Pakistan, the focus of his speech remained on Karachi and delegation of powers to lower tiers of the government – an aimed which is shared by MQM with him.
Kamal didn’t touch important national issues, like electoral reforms, power crisis and ending corruption.
Addressing a handful of workers, the leader of newly formed political party said he and his fellows had no intention to grab powers from anyone.
“We have left powers and offices behind,” he said, adding that he had no contact with Iftikhar Alam, an MPA elected from MQM’s stronghold Nine Zero.
He said that he had flag and his workers will wave the flag of Pakistan for the unity of the nation. “But if election commission declares it prerequisite, we will make one for it,” he said.
“Our system has not given anyone a sense of participation,” he said. “What are you going to do with new provinces? Today there are four, tomorrow there will be 20, but powers will not be devolved to the lowest level and people will not be empowered. A purely devolved local government system should be in place to achieve this,” Kamal said.
Though Kamal had then claimed his party will be Pakistan based political clique, representing people of all ethnic units, however, the top leadership announced yesterday was comprised of former senior leaders of MQM.
