'Administrative units a must for development of country'

Former mayor and senior Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Wasim Akhtar has called for the creation of administrative units across the country, saying people from all ethnic and religious backgrounds in Karachi should unite on the issue. Speaking at a reception held in his honour at the North Karachi Association of Trade and Industry (NKATI) on Saturday, Akhtar said Karachi's residents would support the creation of administrative units if a referendum were held on the issue. "We support administrative units to ensure a fair distribution of Rs35 billion allocated to Sindh. The money should not go into Shah Sahib's pocket alone but should be spent on the development of the city," he said. He alleged that people were being intimidated over the demand for new administrative units. Akhtar said he was increasingly hopeful that the administrative units and powers, his party had been demanding for 40 years, would now be established, referring to Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, the ISPR and Field Marshal Asim Munir. He also criticised the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), alleging that despite receiving huge annual funds, it had failed to resolve Karachi's problems. "Had the PPP resolved Karachi's problems, the city would have become like Paris," he claimed, alleging that Karachi had been turned into cash withdrawing machine.