Karachi's urban flooding a consequence of multiple jurisdictions: HRCP.

KARACHI -- A fact-finding report released by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Sunday points to the city's peculiar political geography where various jurisdictions-local, provincial, federal and cantonment-coexist, often at cross purposes to each other. It recommends making Karachi's land-controlling and management authorities accountable to one central authority or made autonomous. The lack of a legitimate decision-making and accountable authority may have been responsible for bringing the city to a standstill during the monsoon rains in July and August.

The report emphasises the need for an empowered local government for Karachi, adding that the main challenge lies in resolving the city's jurisdictional issues first, giving local government the power to levy local taxes that can then be diverted to local needs, and reversing the top-down urban development model so that Karachi's hinterlands are brought back into the conversation. Based on extensive consultations with urban planners, human rights activists, journalists, academics and citizens...

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