Pakistan: Sindh Assembly accuses tanker mafia of stealing water from Karachi

Pakistan: According to a Dawn article, opposition lawmakers of the Sindh Assembly expressed concerns about the worsening water situation in the city, pointing out widespread theft via illegal hydrants and the tanker mafia.

Lawmakers from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) harshly criticized the province administration during a contentious assembly session for failing to give Karachi with a reliable water supply. According to the Dawn article, they asked the mayor to give the city’s broken pipes first priority and demanded swift action against water theft.

Fouzia Hameed, the parliamentary secretary for the MQM-P, pointed out during Question Hour that theft often accompanied any breach in the main water pipeline. According to the Dawn article, she called for the issuing of non-bailable arrest warrants against the members of the water theft gang and promoted the public revelation of all those implicated.

In their call attention notice, Abdul Waseem and Muhammad Awais of the MQM-P, Shabbir Qureshi of the PTI, and Muhammad Farooq of the JI said that the water deficit needed to be addressed immediately since the people in their constituencies had been suffering for a long time.

Qurat-ul-Ain Khan of MQM-P called the excise minister’s attention to the growing drug usage and sales in the province, especially in Karachi, in her call attention notice.

Mukesh Kumar Chawla, the minister of excise and narcotics, acknowledged that police and excise department officers were also involved in drug trafficking and said that they were being prosecuted.

According to a report by The Express Tribune (TET), a huge number of people, including many women and children, took part in the “Save Sindh’s Existence and Resources” march in Larkana earlier in Sindh despite the implementation of Section 144 and what organizers called “false FIRs”.

Protesting against the 27th Constitutional Amendment, planned corporate agricultural projects, new canals and dams on the Indus River, the alleged exploitation of Sindh’s resources, and the increase in banditry, the gathering was organized by Awami Tehreek and Sindhyani Tehreek.