Farooq Sattar says Prime Minister Shehbaz as a witness, guarantor of the agreement should play his role in ensuring its implementation
MQM-P leader Farooq Sattar addresses a press conference in Karachi. Photo: Screengrab
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) on Saturday warned against 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 Peoples Party (PPP), saying that none of the agreement’s 18 articles had been implemented.
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 formed in 2022.
He said the agreement contained no demand by the MQM-P to join the Sindh government, seek provincial ministries or gain authority over provincial resources.
Sattar said the agreement said there should be stability in Sindh, development of Karachi and equality for all. He said its first point called for the implementation of the Supreme Court ruling on Article 140A, under which political, administrative and economic powers should be transferred to cities, districts and local government institutions within a month.
He said the agreement had not been implemented despite repeated reminders by the MQM-P, saying the MQM-P’s grievance 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 on the floor of the Assembly that MQM-P’s problems were also with the federal government.
Read: MQM-P demands release of Gul Plaza probe report
Sattar said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, as the witness and guarantor of the agreement, should play his role in ensuring its implementation. He said that if the agreement was not implemented, the MQM-P would launch a protest movement, with the party’s central committee deciding when and where it would begin.
He said the MQM-P wanted immediate action on four demands: implementation of Article 140A through a notified committee, a major urban development package for Karachi, progress on the missing persons issue and return of the Sindh governorship to the MQM-P.
Sattar said if no action was taken on these demands, the 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
Reacting to Farooq Sattar’s press conference, Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said 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 MQM-P’s political blackmail.
He said MQM-P has lost the trust of the people, it was haunted by memories of power and it was looking for shortcuts.
Memon stated that the idea of handing over Sindh’s affairs to the federation was a reprehensible conspiracy against the federal structure.
