Pakistani lawmaker Syed Mustafa Kamal on Wednesday (May 15) compared India’s achievements with the dire situation in Karachi. The leader of the Muttahida Quami Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) noted that while India is making strides in space exploration, Karachi is grappling with tragic incidents like children falling into open gutters and losing their lives.
“Today, the condition in Karachi is that, while the world is going to the moon, children are dying by falling into gutter in Karachi. On the same screen, there is news that India landed on the moon, and just after two seconds, the news is that a child died in an open gutter in Karachi,” Kamal said in his address to the Parliament.
In August last year, India’s Chandrayaan-3 lander made history by becoming the first spacecraft from the country to safely reach the lunar surface. India also achieved another milestone by becoming the first country in the world to land on the South Pole of the moon.
Fresh water scarcity and education crisis in Karachi
The Pakistani Parliamentarian also emphasised the scarcity of fresh water in Karachi. The MQM-P leader cited a report stating that there are 7 million children in Karachi and over 26 million children in Pakistan who are unable to attend school.
“Karachi is the revenue engine of Pakistan. The two seaports operational in Pakistan since its inception, are both in Karachi. We (Karachi) are the gateway to the entire Pakistan, Central Asia to Afghanistan…For 15 years, Karachi was not given even a bit of fresh water. Even the water that came, the tanker mafia hoarded it and sold it to the people of Karachi,” he added.
“We have a total of 48,000 schools, but a new report says that out of that 11,000 are ‘ghost schools’. 70 lakh children in Sindh don’t go to school and a total of 2,62,00,000 children in the country don’t go to school…if we just focus on this, the leaders of the country shouldn’t even get proper sleep,” Kamal further added.
Pakistan’s economic crisis
Meanwhile, Pakistan, facing economic distress, high inflation, and mounting debt, is seeking a new loan program from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). A team from the global lender is currently in Pakistan for discussions. They have urged Islamabad to implement “strong cost-side reforms” to restore the viability of the country’s energy sector, as reported by ARY News. The IMF team has also called for an ‘overhaul’ of Pakistan’s tax system.
Last month, Pakistan completed a short-term USD 3 billion program, which helped prevent sovereign default. However, the government has stressed the need for a new, longer-term program, according to Dawn.