MQM-P calls for fulfillment of promises

Holds huge rally in Hyderabad; demands empowerment of local bodies


Our Correspondent January 19, 2019
MQM Hyderabad rally. PHOTO: ONLINE

HYDERABAD: In a veiled warning to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government at the Centre, its ally the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan on Friday called for fulfillment of the agreements which the two parties had made in return for the latter’s support to the former.

At the MQM-P’s public meeting in Liaquat Colony ground in Hyderabad, decentralisation of powers from the province to the local government topped the demands assertively made by the party’s leadership.

The MQM-P’s convener and federal minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqi asked the government to table a constitutional amendment to devolve 20% of the provincial government-controlled departments to the local bodies.

“Sindh’s corrupt government even seized the powers which were given [to the local bodies] by [former president Gen (r)] Pervez Musharraf,” he bewailed.

Siddiqui reiterated his party’s support for the provincial autonomy as enshrined in the 18th Amendment.

However, he claimed that his party had demanded prior to that amendment that the devolution of powers from the provinces to local bodies should take precedence under the devolution plan from the center to the provinces.

“But through the 18th Amendment accumulation of powers (by the provinces) was done in the name of devolution,” he bemoaned, lamenting that his party was betrayed by the then government of Pakistan Peoples Party.

Siddiqui reminded the supporters that the MQM-P entered into the coalition government on certain conditions. “We request the Prime Minister [Imran Khan] to turn that agreement into his determination and give rights to the people.”

He said the MQM-P’s strength had been reduced from 24 in the previous National Assembly to just seven seats in the existing assembly. Yet, he added, the party remained a pivotal partner of the PTI led government. “The government stands on our support. We are the largest party among the allies.”

MQM-P’s deputy convener Kunwar Navid Jamil said they hoped the PTI’s government will resolve the problems which the former party’s constituencies in Karachi, Hyderabad and other cities have kept confronting over all these years.

“But you [PTI’s government] should do something before the hope is lost. The day these hopes vanish, the MQM-P will part ways with the PTI,” he warned.

Jamil said the MQM-P considered corruption as the root cause of all the problems in Pakistan, adding that they will support any political party which undertook the process of accountability.

Raking the PPP’s provincial government over the coals for its alleged discrimination with the people of Karachi and Hyderabad, he warned of protests across the province if “injustice” and “cruelty” of the PPP’s government did not stop.

He maintained that Karachi alone contributed Rs3,000 billion in the federal budget of over Rs4,000 billion but the Centre never allocated proportionate funds for the city’s development.

Sattar wants to pull MQM-P out of crisis

Read out the resolutions, Jamil said the MQM-P demanded financial and administrative powers for the mayors of Karachi and Hyderabad, establishment of pediatric, kidney and cardiac hospitals in Hyderabad, arrest of former MPA Ali Raza Abidi’s killers, establishment of a university at Government College Hyderabad and upgrade of Hyderabad airport, among others.

He lamented that many workers of his party defected when they were passing through “bad times”. But, he congratulated the supporters that a “good time” has started for MQM-P.

Rabita committee’s member Faisal Sabzwari said a 13-point agreement was signed between the PTI and the MQM-P before the latter became a coalition partner.

He felt discriminated over the population census and the missing persons’ issues, bemoaning that the authorities never took up their pleas on the two matters.

“The supreme court takes notices of chickens and eggs but 15 million people of Karachi and hundreds of thousands of Hyderabad have been left out in the population count doesn’t attract their attention.”

He argued that they believe that they are justified in raising the slogan of Mohajir in such a situation. “The MQM-P wants empowerment of the local government system but the government and the assemblies are silent.”

Khuwaja Izharul Hassan said the MQM-P’s seats in the National Assembly were reduced from 24 to 7 through a scientific election engineering. “Despite this we can say today that Prime Minister Imran Khan is elected on our seven votes.”

Holding accountable : MQM-P laments Sindh govt’s failure to address local concerns

Hassan said the leaders of the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz were making same statements in their public meetings which the MQM-P’s leaders used to make five years ago, lamenting that they were ignored by those two parties when they were in the power.

He said the PPP and the PML-N are trying to create an environment of elections by holding successive public meetings in Sindh and Punjab.

MNA Salahuddin and deputy mayor of Hyderabad municipal corporation Suhail Mashhadi also spoke.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ