The Senate polls are not a competition between individuals but rather two political alliances, said Federal Finance and Revenue Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Sunday, after a delegation of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leaders, led by Federal Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar, visited the offices of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and the Grand Democratic Alliance on Sunday, to discuss the coalition’s strategy for the upcoming Senate elections.
Speaking to the media after the PTI delegation’s meeting at the MQM-P’s temporary head office in Bahadrabad, Umar said that the coalition partners in the federal government discussed matters of mutual interest and all issues can be resolved with unity.
“PTI wishes for the Senate election to be conducted transparently but the behavior of the government of Sindh is undemocratic, which we will deal with while keeping in the limits of law,” said Umar.
He maintained that the PTI is a democratic party which has always valued democracy. If the Senate polls are conducted fairly, seats of the MQM-P and the PTI coalition may increase but they will not lessen under any circumstances, claimed Umar, adding that the MQM-P was their ally and a relationship of trust prevails between the parties.
The PTI delegation included Federal Finance and Revenue Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Federal Privatisation Minister Muhammad Mian Soomro, member of Sindh Assembly Firdous Shamim Naqvi and other party leaders. They met with MQM-P stalwarts Khalid Maqbool Siddiqi, Amir Khan, Kunwar Naveed Jameel, Waseem Akhtar, Federal Information Technology and Telecommunication Minister Syed Aminul Haq, Faisal Sabzwari, Khwaja Sohail Mansoor and Zahid Mansoori.
The MQM-P leaders emphasised on the need to resolve issues of urban Sindh, specially Karachi, during the meeting.
Later, speaking to the media, Sabzwari said that the meeting had discussed the MQM-P’s votes for the Senate polls and written agreements between the two parties.
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The only thing that the MQM-P has demanded is that the sense of deprivation in urban Sindh should come to an end, said Sabzwari, adding that the MQM-P and the PTI have shared reservations on the census results. This is why the cabinet’s recommendations to the Council of Common Interest include the suggestion to conduct a census soon, he added.
According to Sabzwari, a demand was put forth before the federal government to allocate a budget for this purpose during the meeting and the suggestion was accepted.
Meanwhile, PTI’s Shaikh said that the “Senate election is not a contest between two individuals but between two political alliances.”
With regards to the PTI government, he said that when the federal government was formed in 2018, it faced an economic crisis, with exports being stagnant and the largest amounts of debts standing. Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government had to reach out to the International Monetary Fund in this situation, said Shaikh.
According to Shaikh, the government made tough decisions and increased tax collection upto 17 per cent.
He lauded the federal government’s response to the pandemic and the disbursement of cash relief to 15 million people.
Separately, after the PTI delegation met with Grand Democratic Alliance chief Pir Syed Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi, better known as Pir Pagaro, and other GDA leaders at Raja House, the GDA also assured the delegation of its support in the upcoming polls.
Our voters will increase, not decrease, said the GDA chief confident that the joint-strategy prepared among the coalition parties would bear fruit.
Never before in the history of Sindh have such atrocities been inflicted on the people, he said. “This can be gauged from the fact that 85 per cent of the people in Sindh lack access to safe drinking water. Water is not available for agriculture and 25 per cent of newborns die within a year.”
“We will work with the opposition to find a solution that will be in the interest of Sindh’s people,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 22nd, 2021.
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