The supporters of Pasban staged a 'Mega City-Mega March' to highlight the issues of this port city on Sunday. The Pasban activists and sympathisers marched from the Mazar-e-Quaid to Tibet Centre. A large number of citizens belonging to all walks of life, including women and children carrying banners, placards and colourful balloons participated in the march.
Speaking at the rally, Pasban president Altaf Shakoor asserted that ignoring Karachi's genuine grievances is tantamount to economic genocide of Pakistan. "Development of the mega city Karachi is inevitable for a sustainable development of Pakistan," he said, adding that to run the mega city on modern lines, an integrated approach and competent management is a must.
He said any city with a population of 10 million or more is called a mega city. He said the problems of mega cities are different from the problems of ordinary cities. He said mega cities cannot be managed with the yardsticks of non-mega cities that is why Pasban has been demanding constitutional provisions and changes in local government laws since long to pave way for the mega city governments. He said a different approach and mindset in needed to run the mega cities.
"Due to self-sufficient economies and bigger size and efficiency they generate extra revenue for their nations." Shakoor said, adding that 'had the pace of development of Karachi continued like 1950s and 60s, Karachi would have been the richest city of the world today.' He gave the example of Dubai that began its development when Karachi was put on the path of economic deterioration. He said the ad hoc-ism, plugged-in solutions and add-ons are not the durable solution to the longstanding problems of Karachi. He said integrated approach for the development of the mega city was need of the hours. He said problems are immense and complicated hence all should have to work hard and all stakeholders need to be given a freehand with a complete coordination and harmony. He said the mega city concept needs a constitutional recognition because this concept is not mentioned in our constitution presently and nor in the city government laws. He proposed a survey be conducted to get input from many stakeholders of the mega city to ensure a better planning.
"By the mega city approach, Pakistan will benefit much and the world would attach importance to the country," he said, adding that if mega city Karachi is given a proper focus, Pakistan would be counted amongst the top ten countries of the world. He said developing Karachi and Lahore on mega city lines would create a role model for those many more mega cities that would emerge in Pakistan in coming ten to fifteen years.
Altaf Shakoor suggested that patriotic leaders and time-tested personalities should be given responsibilities in the caretaker set up, keeping in view supreme national interests.
Regarding the issue of Aafia Siddiqui, he said, urged the government to take all out efforts for her release from US prison. He said if the government wants to release the US Defence Attaché who had killed a Pakistani citizen in traffic accident in Islamabad; it should ensure that Aafia Siddiqui is released prior to that.
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