Make new provinces wherever necessary: MQM-P
Supporters of Muttahida Qaumi Movement take part in a rally outside the Karachi Press Club to push for their demand for a separate Southern Sindh province. PHOTO: EXPRESS
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) on Saturday said new provinces should be carved out wherever necessary and the most strongest case is that of Southern Sindh province.
Addressing a mammoth rally at Karachi Press Club, MQM-P Convener Maqbool Ahmed Siddiqui said they have presented their case for the Southern Sindh province before the legislative assemblies, executive and judiciary and have finally come to the fourth pillar of press.
"One end of the rally is at KPC and the other is at the Regent Plaza intersection on Sharae Faisal," Sidiqui told a cheering crowd of die-hard MQM supporters who had come out in numbers to push for their cause of distinct identity. "This caravan, which has come out for achieving the rights of the people of urban areas of Sindh will not stop here, we are going to Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Nawabshah and Sukkur too," Siddiqui said.
"We are Pakistan since the creation of Pakistan, we chose Pakistan as our home" he said adding that the people coming from India at the time of partition in 1947 bought their share of the Pakistan to the new country. The migrants came to Karachi which was the capital of Jinnah's Pakistan, but the Bhuttos made it capital of Sindh only.
Today, the urban population is deprived of its rightful share in resources, employment and development projects, he said. The Bhutto regime has doled out government jobs reserved for urban quota to people from rural areas on forged domiciles. The city that generates highest revenue is deprived of mega development schemes, Siddiqui said.
In the past 10 years, the port city generated revenue worth over Rs5.6 trillion, he said and questioned how much was spent on the industrial hub. Moreover, Siddiqui said that a commission should be formed to investigate where did the Sindh government spent Rs575 billion received from the centre for Karachi.
The MQM-P convener declared PPP a corrupt regime and a security risk that should be packed up.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 4th, 2021.