MQM-P calls for national dialogue with political parties on new provinces, administrative units

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) on Sunday said it would launch a grand national dialogue with other political parties on the creation of new provinces and administrative units, arguing that Pakistan's growing population, poor governance and concentration of political power had made further administrative devolution necessary.

MQM-P Chairman Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, addressing a press conference in Karachi, said the party would approach all political parties to build consensus on the creation of provinces based on population and would centre its future demands, political movement and struggle on the issue.

“There is a need for a major national dialogue, and we are going to initiate it."

He said Pakistan had a population of around 25-30 million when it was created in 1947, compared with roughly 250 million today, yet the country still had only four provinces. “More divisions have been created across the country than the rate of population growth, but provinces have not been created,” he said.

Siddiqui said the MQM had consistently proposed measures to address Pakistan's problems, adding that the movement had originated from a student organisation before entering electoral politics.

He said the country's assemblies had been established for legislation but that the MQM's decision to send middle-class young people into parliament had been treated as a “crime”.

He said the party had spent decades arguing that Pakistan's four provinces had been created largely on linguistic lines and that the country now needed an administrative structure that reflected its population.

Siddiqui said all political parties were increasingly agreeing with proposals previously put forward by the MQM-P and that the party would hold talks with them.

Article 140-A

A major part of the party's campaign would also focus on Article 140-A of the Constitution, Siddiqui said. The provision requires provinces to establish local governments and devolve political, administrative and financial responsibility and authority to elected local representatives.

Read: More provinces?

“We became part of the 18th Amendment so that the benefits of Article 140-A could reach the people's doorsteps,” he said.

He said the party had sought to have Article 140-A implemented in line with public aspirations and that the provision was now being discussed across the country.

“We will approach the Supreme Court (SC) again and ask it to take notice of the way its decision has been disregarded,” he added.

He said the provinces had been bound to implement the court's decision and that the party had already discussed the matter with lawyers and would consult senior legal counsel before returning to the SC.

Siddiqui also said the party had introduced a constitutional amendment bill concerning the creation of provinces in the National Assembly. He said the bill had not been rejected but had been sent to a standing committee, which had yet to take action on it.

“Pakistan has had dozens of constitutional amendments. There would be nothing wrong with making one amendment in favour of Pakistan and the Pakistani people,” he said.

He said the Constitution already contained a mechanism for creating provinces, noting that the country's elected leadership had included the provision.

“If this demand is such a big danger, then remove it from the Constitution. Why is this demand in the Constitution?” he said.

Siddiqui also rejected arguments that the MQM-P's demand for administrative units was aimed at dividing Sindh along ethnic lines. He said the party recognised the contribution and welcome extended to migrants who arrived in Sindh after Partition, but argued that the historical record surrounding migration and property ownership also needed to be acknowledged.

He said much of the land in Sindh had belonged to Hindus who migrated after Partition and claimed that 21 of the province's 26 cities had Hindu majorities at the time.

“We did not simply come and occupy someone else's house. Those who left our homes, we came into their homes,” he said.

Read More: Pakistan's missing tier of governance

He said the MQM-P respected the affection shown by Sindhis towards migrants and suggested that a “Thanksgiving Day” could eventually be observed to acknowledge that history.

Mustafa Kamal, federal health minister and MQM-P central leader, said the proposal for administrative units in Sindh was not directed against Sindhis but was intended to give residents greater political control over their own affairs.

“Creating administrative units is not against Sindhis; it is for Sindhis,” he said.

He noted that Karachi had been Pakistan's federal capital until 1966 and said the city now accounted for 38% of Sindh's population according to official census figures, which the MQM-P disputed.

Hyderabad accounted for another 5%, he said, meaning the two cities together represented about 43% of the provincial population.

“Even if a single vote from Karachi and Hyderabad did not go to the existing provincial government, we could not change our chief minister,” he said.

He said a new administrative arrangement would allow cities such as Karachi and Hyderabad to elect governments capable of directly addressing failures in water supply, sewage and waste management.

“If I want to change this through my vote, I should have that power in a city like Karachi or Hyderabad,” he said.

Kamal criticised the state of public services in Karachi, referring to shortages of water, children falling into open drains, deaths caused by road accidents and dog bites, and the spread of HIV.

He said people in rural Sindh faced even worse conditions, with women travelling up to 12 kilometres to collect water from wells also used by animals.

Kamal argued that generations of rural residents had become accustomed to deprivation, whereas urban residents continued to resist what he described as an unjust system.

“We have not yet laid down our arms before these people. We are still resisting within Pakistan's Constitution and law,” he said.

“If administrative units are created, the people of Sindh will be able to change their chief minister,” he said.

Kamal also cited federal transfers to the provinces in arguing that the problem was not simply a lack of resources.

He said the federal government had allocated Rs8,884 billion to the four provinces at the outset, while Sindh had received Rs2,267 billion during the current year and about Rs22 trillion over 18 years.

Also Read: Parties favour stronger LGs over new provinces

“Twenty-two trillion rupees have been spent, and the city has been made one of the worst places in the world to live,” he said.

He argued that the concentration of resources and authority at the provincial level had contributed to poor governance. Kamal said the MQM-P's proposals were not about transferring territory between provinces.

“Not an inch of Sindh's land is going into another province, and not an inch of another province is being brought into Sindh,” he said.

“This is not a division. It is an administrative arrangement.”

MQM-P leader Farooq Sattar said further administrative units were essential for Pakistan's survival, development and stability. “If the status quo is not ended, rebellions will emerge in different parts of the country,” he said.

He said people who became alienated from the state, Constitution and law could eventually become alienated from Pakistan itself.

Sattar said poor governance and corruption existed in all four provinces but argued that Karachi's position made the consequences particularly significant.

He described Karachi as the country's economic capital, saying the city contributed about 60% of Pakistan's tax and other revenues and 90% of Sindh's revenue, while 55% of the country's exports came from Karachi.

“When Article 140-A was being implemented to some extent, Karachi was the 12th fastest-growing city in the world,” he said, referring to a ranking he attributed to the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“This is an administrative division. It is a division of resources and a division of powers,” he said.

He proposed that existing divisions such as Larkana, Sukkur and Mirpur Khas could become administrative units. “These administrative units will be run by the people who live there,” he said.

Sattar said such a system would allow people to hold local leaders accountable for governance instead of relying on a single chief minister governing a province with a population of tens of millions.

Sattar also directed criticism at Sindh's feudal political structures: “The real enemy of Sindh is the feudal lord, the landlord and those who practise hereditary politics."

He accused such political actors of denying people basic facilities and opportunities to improve their lives.

Sattar said the proposed administrative restructuring would give people in different parts of Sindh greater control over resources and decision-making.

He said the proposed units would include areas such as Larkana, Sukkur, Mirpur Khas and Karachi, with their own elected leadership and administrative structures.

“These are not geographical divisions. This is the distribution of resources and powers,” he said.

Siddiqui said the MQM-P would keep its future political demands and mobilisation focused on the two central issues of new administrative units and implementation of Article 140-A.

“This is not an organisational or political need; it is a need of Pakistan,” he said.

He also pointed to an inconsistency in political parties' positions on Article 140-A, saying the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had supported a resolution concerning the provision in Punjab while opposing similar demands in Sindh.

“You are demanding it in Punjab while banning the same demand in Sindh,” he said.

Siddiqui said the MQM-P's proposed reforms were intended to give ordinary people, particularly the middle class, a greater role in governance.

“We were ordinary, poor middle-class people who were allowed to govern,” he said.

He added that the party understood the problems of ordinary Sindhis and wanted administrative reforms to benefit them as well as urban populations.