MQM-P warns of protests over non-implementation of 2022 accord with PPP | The Express Tribune
Farooq Sattar says PM Shehbaz as witness, guarantor of agreement, should play his role in ensuring its implementation
MQM-P leader Farooq Sattar addressing a press conference in Karachi. Photo: Screengrab
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 implementation of the party’s March 30, 2022 agreement with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), saying none of the agreement’s 18 articles had been implemented.
Speaking at a press conference in Karachi, MQM-P leader Farooq Sattar said the agreement was signed by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and MQM-P Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui when the coalition government was being formed in 2022.
He said the agreement did not include any demand by MQM-P to join the Sindh government, seek provincial ministries or obtain 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 its first point called for implementation of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Article 140A, under which political, administrative and financial powers were to be devolved to cities, districts and local government institutions within a month.
He said the agreement had not been implemented despite repeated reminders by MQM-P, saying that 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 that Bilawal had recently said on the floor of the assembly that MQM-P’s issues were also with the federal government.
Read: MQM-P demands release of Gul Plaza inquiry 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 if the agreement was not implemented, MQM-P would launch a protest movement, with the party’s central committee deciding when and where it would begin.
He said MQM-P wanted immediate action on four demands: implementation of Article 140A through a notified committee, a larger urban development package for Karachi, progress on the issue of missing persons, and the return of the Sindh governorship to MQM-P.
Sattar said that if no action was taken on those demands, MQM-P’s 22 members of the National Assembly could seek to move to the opposition benches.
MQM-P still believes in shortcut politics: Memon
Sindh’s Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, reacting to Farooq Sattar’s press conference, said that the MQM-P still believed in shortcut politics rather than the public mandate. Using issues like federal intervention as tools for political pressure is proof of the MQM-P’s political blackmail.
He said that the MQM-P has lost the trust of the people, it was haunted by memories of power, and it was searching for shortcuts.
Memon stated that the idea of handing over Sindh’s matters to the federation was a reprehensible conspiracy against the federal structure.
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