MQM-P renews key demands after PM meeting

Seeks empowered local governments, missing workers' recovery, larger share for urban Sindh

KARACHI:

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has renewed its demands for stronger local governments, the recovery of its missing workers and greater political representation for urban Sindh, saying the issues were discussed in detail during its recent meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The party's parliamentary strategy and key political priorities were reviewed at a meeting chaired by MQM-P Chairman Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui at the party's Bahadurabad headquarters on Sunday. Briefing lawmakers on the meeting with the prime minister, Dr Siddiqui said the MQM-P delegation had presented its key demands before the federal government, including full implementation of Article 140-A of the Constitution in line with Supreme Court rulings to ensure empowered local governments.

He said the party's proposed constitutional amendment aimed at strengthening local government institutions was also discussed with the prime minister. The issue of the party's missing workers was likewise raised before the federal government, he added.

Addressing the meeting, senior MQM-P leader Dr Farooq Sattar said that after the 1972 ethnic riots, a political convention had emerged in Sindh under which the governor belonged to urban Sindh while the chief minister hailed from rural Sindh, a practice he said was intended to preserve political balance and ensure representation of all permanent residents of the province.

He said MQM-P believes that the party holding the electoral mandate in urban Sindh should be represented in the Governor House.

Dr Sattar added that discussions with the federal government also covered development funding for urban Sindh, including special development packages for Karachi and Hyderabad.

He urged the party's legislators to play an effective role in parliament and the provincial assembly in line with the directives of the party's parliamentary committee and organisational policy.