Deja vu: MQM warns of leaving Sindh government

Party commemorates the day when their workers were killed in 1988.

HYDERABAD/ KARACHI:

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) might consider parting ways with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)-led government if their concerns are not redressed, said a member of the MQM coordination (Rabita) committee member on Tuesday.

"If a time comes when we have to separate from the Sindh government, we will do that," said coordination committee member Kunwar Naveed, while speaking to journalists at Lal Qila ground. A Quran khwani was held in remembrance of party workers killed in 1988 at the ground.

Despite the party being a part of the provincial government, they were registering their complaints and protests with the PPP at every issue, said the party leader.

Naveed said that the law enforcement agencies were arresting innocent party workers and detaining them during the on-going raids in the metropolis. "We have staged sit-ins, held protests and even gone to court for the recovery of our workers," he said, adding that they will continue to raise their voice against the atrocities committed against their workers.

He clarified that MQM chief Altaf Hussain had not spoken of a 'Muhajir' province. He only called for the country to divide into 20 administrative units to contain the booming population. He welcomed Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah's statement that the province is ready for local bodies' election, adding that the system was the foundation of a democratic society.

Meanwhile, the party's Hyderabad chapter also marked the day in 1988 when its workers were killed. The murderers of Muhajirs are being presented as nationalist leaders today, claimed MQM deputy convenor MNA Khalid Maqbool at a general workers' meeting in Hyderabad.  "Nearly two decades have passed since the incident but the killers are still at large," said Siddiqui.

He also lashed out at the PPP, saying that the Muhajirs voted for the party in the 1988 general elections despite the killings, but their trust was broken when the PPP government spilled blood in Karachi and Hyderabad in 1993.

Education policy

The party has also given the Sindh government 24 hours to abolish the newly prepared education policy in the province failing which they will take to the streets. This was announced by the MQM's parliamentary leaders after they submitted an adjournment motion in the Sindh Assembly against the policy on Tuesday.

They also demanded education minister Nisar Khuhro's resignation. "The education policy has been framed against the people living in Karachi," said MQM deputy parliamentary leader in Sindh Assembly, Khwaja Izharul Hasan. "This is a Muhajir-dushman policy."

The new policy has created resentment among the students of Karachi who will not accept it, he added. "If the government did not alter this policy, the students will stage sit-ins and protests outside Sindh secretariat, education department and other areas until their demands are met,"  he said, adding that Khuhro has started working against the wishes of the people living in urban areas, and is giving more priority to rural students.

"We were not consulted before the education policy was formed," Hasan claimed. "This drama of the 'quota system' should end now and the government must undo the biased changes it has made," he demanded.

"We will take up this issue during the next session," he said. Hasan said there is 60:40 ratio in government jobs for rural and urban areas but the incumbent government blatantly violates it by ignoring Karachi and other urban cities.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2014.