President Zardari Criticizes Sindh Government Over Karachi’s Poor Roads, Cites Mohsin Naqvi as Example

Karachi: In the last week of February 2026, President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari held a high-level meeting in Karachi with senior Sindh officials, including Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab, to review the city’s development projects.

Sources say President Zardari expressed strong displeasure over the slow progress of ongoing projects in Karachi and other parts of Sindh, particularly criticizing the poor condition of the city’s roads. Addressing the Chief Minister and Mayor, he reportedly said, “If you cannot get the roads built, ask Mohsin Naqvi how he gets things done.”

According to close PPP sources, Zardari referred to Mohsin Naqvi’s past performance in Punjab, where underpasses and roads were completed within 60 days, and gave the Sindh government a three-month ultimatum to bring Karachi’s road network up to Islamabad standards and reduce public complaints.

Senior journalists and analysts link Zardari’s remarks to internal party politics and the future of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, suggesting the move is aimed at ensuring strong performance examples in Sindh when Bilawal emerges as the party’s Prime Ministerial candidate at the federal level.

Journalists noted that Zardari’s warning could lead to emergency allocation of funds for stalled projects, dismissal of underperforming officials, and the creation of a special monitoring cell in the Chief Minister’s House to report directly to Bilawal House.

While PPP and the Sindh government are part of the same political alliance at the federal level, Zardari citing Mohsin Naqvi—a figure outside Sindh politics—as a benchmark has drawn attention. Karachi’s long-standing issues with road construction, repairs, and sewerage have triggered criticism from citizens and social media, and this meeting is seen as a wake-up call that the President is now personally overseeing these matters.

Following the meeting, the Sindh government issued directives to accelerate work on various development projects, though previous deadlines for projects like the Yaseenabad underpass had already been missed multiple times. Roads such as University Road and Jahangir Road remain daily challenges for Karachi residents.