‘If suffering continues, MQM-P will have to decide about PTI’

City mayor says party joined federal govt to solve the hardships of the people

KARACHI: If the suffering of Karachi's people continues, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) will have to make a decision on whether or not to remain with the federal government, said city mayor Wasim Akhtar on Friday.

"We joined the federal government so the hardships of our people could be solved, but now we have to decide whether to continue with them or not," he said, speaking after an inspection of road construction work in Korangi.

"MQM will not repeat the mistakes made in the past and it will not be part of making or breaking the government," Akhtar added, claiming that the party would now make its decisions to further the interests of the people.

He asserted that the Sindh government had kept to itself the power to provide basic necessities to the people, but had neither provided anything nor allowed anyone else to do so. "How can the city's problems be solved in such a situation?" he questioned.

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Akhtar stated that the issues being faced by the metropolis and its citizens were increasing, but the local government bodies did not have the resources to address them. Despite this, he said, they were still making efforts to come up with solutions using the available resources.

"The province receives Rs 1,200 billion annually," he pointed out. "Why can't some share from this amount be spent on Karachi?"

Demanding that the city's problems be given priority, the mayor said it was getting difficult to dispose of garbage in the metropolis because the services could only be provided through bodies working on the grassroots level.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2020.