'Lawlessness plague K-P'
Provincial Chairman of Qaumi Watan Party, Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao, has strongly criticized the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government, stating that it lacks both authority and performance. He said that due to PTI's poor governance, the province is mired in underdevelopment, lawlessness, and massive debt.
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Express Tribune
2 hours ago
- Express Tribune
Karachi is sinking and we let it happen!
Massive downpours along with flooding have so far killed over 500 people in the country since June 14. PHOTO: EXPRESS We lulled ourselves into believing that the floods and landslides devastating Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan would never reach us. We comforted ourselves with the lie that Karachi was somehow immune, that climate change would punish the north but spare our city. We were wrong—dangerously wrong. Today, Karachi, a megacity of more than 20 million people and the economic engine of Pakistan, is sinking. Not just because of climate change, but because of decades of looting, mismanagement, and our own complicity. The local betrayal Our political parties—Jamaat-e-Islami, MQM, PPP, and PTI—perform the same theatre every election cycle. They sell us hate, pit us against each other, and promise miracles. But once the votes are counted, they shake hands, split the contracts, and carve Karachi into fiefdoms. The Boss distributes the share. Local bodies have never been about service delivery. They became nothing more than a profit-sharing pact. Garbage, water, housing, public transport—every crisis was turned into a contract. Every institution was hollowed out. But the betrayal is not only local. The donor illusion For two decades, international donors and lenders have poured billions into Karachi through the Sindh government. They promised clean water, modern transport, stronger governance, and climate resilience. What we got were ribbon-cutting ceremonies, glossy reports, and projects that stalled, were restructured, or quietly disappeared. The World Bank committed 382 million dollars for the Yellow Line BRT and 230 million dollars under the Competitive and Livable City of Karachi project. Years later, commuters still cling to rickety buses, and garbage piles remain untouched. The Asian Development Bank, AIIB, AFD, and the Green Climate Fund pooled over 500 million dollars for the Red Line BRT. Construction delays have left citizens stranded again. Other loans targeted water, sanitation, and flood resilience: 40 million dollars for KWSB reforms, 105 million dollars for solid waste, 500 million dollars plus another 450 million after the 2022 floods, and nearly 300 million dollars for water and agriculture transformation across Sindh. The record is clear: money was never the problem. Accountability was. And donors who keep writing cheques without demanding proof are not saviours. They are enablers. Citizens as silent partners Here is the truth we do not like to admit: we are not innocent bystanders. We kept voting for the same faces, the same parties, the same hate instead of capability, capacity, and integrity. We endorsed the cartel. We tolerated opacity. Every ballot we cast based on political biases became permission for plunder. Our silence bought their share. Our votes became their loot. The proof of what works And yet, Karachi has shown us another path. The Orangi Pilot Project proved that citizen-led solutions can succeed where expensive, donor-driven paralysis failed. With little funding and complete transparency, communities built sanitation systems, housing, and microfinance. That spirit can rescue Karachi—but only if scaled up with enforceable rules, open audits, and citizen oversight. What must change 1. Political accountability: No more blank cheques at the ballot. Any party that wants Karachi must agree to public audits, spending dashboards, and performance contracts. Karachiites must say no to the Boss who selects the shareholders without the consent of stakeholders. 2. Donor accountability: No more cheque first, governance later. Every rupee must be trackable in real time, tied to independent audits and citizen oversight. If donors will not enforce accountability, their money is nothing but fuel for corruption. 3. Civic accountability: Karachiites must organise beyond party lines. Demand service-level guarantees for water, waste, transit, and drainage—and refuse to endorse anyone who will not provide them. The hard truth Karachi has not suffered from a shortage of capital. It has suffered from a shortage of accountability: political, donor, and civic. Shame on the donors and lenders who refuse to witness the outcome of their unacceptable funding. Shame on us Karachiites for staying silent while corrupt people are imposed on us again and again. And as for the political parties—there is no need to shame them. They are only doing what they were hired to do: to loot, to divide, and to cash in. Karachi is not sinking only because of climate change. It is sinking because we let it. And if Karachi drowns, it will drown in our silence first.
Express Tribune
a day ago
- Express Tribune
Floods and failures
The devastation unleashed by flash floods in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has reached staggering proportions. At least 325 lives have been lost, over 150 remain missing and hundreds more lie injured as the province battles one of the most destructive monsoons in recent memory. Nationwide, the death toll has climbed to 657 since late June, including 171 children and 94 women - a grim reminder of the sheer human cost of our collective unpreparedness. The K-P government has announced Rs800 million in relief funds for affected districts and an additional Rs500 million for Buner, one of the worst-hit regions. While such allocations offer some respite, they remain little more than a stopgap move against the magnitude of suffering on the ground. Relief trucks and helicopters have been mobilised, yet vast swathes of the province remain cut off, with communities stranded and vulnerable to further deluges. With two to three more waves of heavy rain forecast in September, the dangers are far from over. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed his cabinet members to personally supervise relief operations, but this belated move highlights a deeper malaise. Year after year, Pakistan finds itself trapped in the same cycle of disaster and damage control. Yet lessons from the catastrophic 2022 floods appear to have been quickly forgotten. The response must now shift from ad hoc measures to systemic resilience. Emergency funds cannot substitute for disaster-proof infrastructure, nor can helicopters replace the need for climate adaptation strategies in vulnerable regions. K-P, with its mountainous terrain and fragile riverbanks, will continue to suffer unless the state invests in robust early warning systems and better urban planning. Unless disaster preparedness is embedded into policy, the toll of lives and livelihoods will continue to mount each year.
Express Tribune
a day ago
- Express Tribune
Peshawar reels under civic shutdown as municipal workers strike
Life in Peshawar was thrown into disarray on Monday after employees of the Capital Metropolitan Government launched an indefinite strike over unpaid salaries and pensions. With the walkout, all municipal services—including sanitation, waste disposal, and other civic operations—ground to a halt. Offices under the metropolitan administration were locked, as workers vowed not to return until their financial dues are cleared. The strike was announced following a meeting of the United Municipal Workers Union, chaired by Malik Muhammad Naveed and attended by key office bearers, including General Secretary Syed Waqar Ali Shah, President Ismail Khan, Finance Secretary Khawaja Aftab Elahi, and several senior leaders. The union has also planned a protest rally in the city to press their demands. Speaking at the meeting, Naveed said the crisis had pushed thousands of low-paid employees and their families to the brink. 'Our households are facing starvation, while aged retirees, widows, and orphans run from office to office in vain, unable to access their pensions,' he said. He criticised senior officials for continuing to indulge in extravagant expenses while employees are deprived of their most basic rights. Union leaders further alleged that around Rs7 million per month was being spent on daily-wage workers who, they claimed, were neither needed nor regularly seen on duty. 'This unnecessary expenditure is draining the limited resources of the metropolitan government while genuine employees are left unpaid,' the representatives said. They warned that the strike would remain in force indefinitely until the government releases salaries and pensions, stressing that workers had no option but to resort to such drastic action. The protest in Peshawar follows months of growing resentment across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's local bodies over inadequate financial support from the provincial government. In June, the K-P Local Government Employees Federation had voiced strong concern over the failure to release sufficient grants to pay salaries and pensions of employees in financially weak councils. According to the federation, the finance department had approved grants of Rs360.4 million and Rs150 million for settled areas, and Rs71 million for merged districts. However, union leaders argued these amounts fell far short of the actual requirements of various Tehsil Municipal Administrations. They said the allocations were often based on outdated formulas, leaving weaker councils unable to pay staff on time. Federation leaders, including Patron-in-Chief Shaukat Kayani, Chairman Mehboobullah, President Haji Anwar Kamal Khan Marwat, and General Secretary Sulaiman Khan Hoti, accused provincial authorities of ignoring ground realities. They lamented that many employees and pensioners could not receive their dues even ahead of Eidul Fitr and were again facing hardships in the run-up to Eidul Azha. They urged the government to ensure fair and timely release of grants based on genuine financial needs rather than political considerations. 'Local government employees and pensioners should not be forced to beg for what is rightfully theirs,' one leader said. As the strike continues in Peshawar, residents are bracing for worsening sanitation and civic conditions, while union leaders say the protest will only end once the government fulfills its commitments.
