Allies speak of unfulfilled promises at PM’s luncheon

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government already in a quandary due to the opposition parties’ firm stance against it, felt the heat from the coalition partners when they expressed their concerns over unfulfilled promises, rising inflation and being ignored for too long at the luncheon hosted by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday.

Sensing the situation, according to sources, Prime Minister Imran gave enough signals to indicate that the government was aware of the coalition partners’ concerns, which would soon be addressed. There was no official statement regarding the event. However, the sources revealed that Imran assured the allies that he was aware of the rising inflation and other problems they faced in their constituencies.

Imran apprised the allies that his whole focus for two years was on strengthening the foundation of the economy but now he would focus on the public welfare projects, adding that all the promises would not only be fulfilled but would they also be seen as being done in the future. Imran said that “mafia” was the hurdle in the way to change and it was “present everywhere”.

The luncheon was attended by delegations from Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)-Pakistan, Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), key members of the ruling party as well as the chief minister and governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the governor of Sindh. However, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) did not attend.

At the gathering, Imran dilated on the economic and political situation in the country, saying that his economic team worked hard and the country’s economy had now stabilised. He said the PTI and its allies were united for the betterment of Pakistan but it was evident that the opposition was bent upon harming the country.

Sources revealed the prime minister told the allies that the opposition was trying its best to blackmail him but they would fail because neither he could be blackmailed nor pressurised.

While extending full support to the government, the sources said, the coalition parties brought several issues to the prime minister’s notice, including non-disbursement of development funds and not equipping the allies with mega projects in their constituencies.

It was further revealed that the allies from Balochistan and Sindh reminded the government of its unfulfilled promises, saying the ruling party in Sindh – the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) – had the complete control over all the departments and bureaucracy and it was deliberately ignoring their constituencies.

Urging the prime minister to take the coalition parties along, the allies from Sindh expressed reservations to ignoring the people of the province, saying that they were allies but the government was not proving it.

They said that special attention should be paid to the problems of the people of Sindh and mega projects should be started by the federal government in the province.

The sources said that the MQM-P leaders expressed concerns over the implementation of the Karachi Transformation Plan. They said that the work on Karachi Transformation Plan was slow and the people of Karachi were being affected due to non-cooperation of the Sindh government.