Farooq Sattar says Prime Minister Shehbaz, as a witness and guarantor of the agreement, must play his role in ensuring its implementation.
MQM-P leader Farooq Sattar at a press conference in Karachi. Photo: screenshot
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) on Saturday warned of launching a protest movement if the federal government did not play its role in ensuring the implementation of the party’s March 30, 2022 agreement with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), saying none of the 18 articles of the agreement had been implemented.
Addressing a press conference in Karachi, MQM-P leader Farooq Sattar said the agreement was signed by PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and MQM-P coordinator Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui when the coalition government was being formed in 2022.
He said the agreement did not include any demand by the MQM-P to join the Sindh government, seek provincial ministries or gain authority over provincial resources.
Sattar said the agreement stated that there should be stability in Sindh, development of Karachi and equality for all. He said his first point called for the implementation of the Supreme Court ruling on Article 140A, according to which political, administrative and financial powers were to be transferred to cities, districts and local government institutions within one month.
He said the agreement had not been implemented despite repeated reminders from the MQM-P, saying the MQM-P’s complaint was against the PPP, the Sindh government and its officials, including President Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who had signed the agreement.
Sattar said Bilawal had recently said in the assembly that the MQM-P’s problems were also with the federal government.
Read: MQM-P demands publication of Gul Plaza investigation report
Sattar said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, as a witness and guarantor of the agreement, should play his role in ensuring its implementation. He said that if the deal was not implemented, the MQM-P would launch a protest movement, and the party’s central committee would decide when and where it would start.
He said the MQM-P wanted immediate action on four demands: implementation of Article 140A through a notified committee, a broader urban development package for Karachi, progress on the missing persons issue and return of Sindh governorate to the MQM-P.
Sattar said if no action was taken on those demands, the MQM-P’s 22 National Assembly members could try to move to the opposition seats.
MQM-P still believes in shortcut politics: Memon
Sindh Chief Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, reacting to Farooq Sattar’s press conference, said the MQM-P still believed in shortcut politics instead of public mandate. Using issues such as federal intervention as tools of political pressure is proof of the political blackmail of the MQM-P.
He said the MQM-P has lost the trust of the people, is haunted by memories of power and is looking for shortcuts.
Memon claimed that the idea of handing over the affairs of Sindh to the federation was a reprehensible conspiracy against the federal structure.
