KARACHI(National Times)- The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) on Saturday warned of issuing a protest call if the Centre did not ensure that the party\u2019s 2022 agreement with PPP on various provincial issues was implemented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MQM-P and PPP had signed<\/a> an 18-point agreement on March 30, 2022 \u2014 just before the two joined hands with other parties to remove<\/a> PTI\u2019s Imran Khan as the prime minister. MQM-P\u2019s demands ranged from municipal government structure to future power-sharing formula and recruitment policy in Sindh to local policing system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Addressing a press conference in Karachi, Farooq Sattar referred to that deal as the \u201clast agreement between MQM-P and PPP\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He stressed that his party had not demanded to be included in the provincial government or sought authority over Sindh\u2019s resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sattar claimed that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari held \u201cno meeting despite repeated reminders from MQM-P\u201d on the agreement to implement a Supreme Court order<\/a> regarding local governments within one month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis was not implemented. This entire agreement was not implemented. This has around 18 points, out of which not even one was implemented,\u201d the MQM-P leader asserted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Highlighting that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (then the PML-N president), Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Akhtar Mengal and Khalid Hussain Magsi had signed the pact as witnesses, Sattar called for the Centre to take action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sattar said: \u201cYou (Bilawal) have a direct signature on our rights and the solution of our problems, but the witness of this nikah<\/em>, this relationship, is mian<\/em> Shehbaz Sharif, so he [and] the federal government \u2014 I am not using the word intervention \u2014 but they would have to get involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd these 18 points would have to be implemented; otherwise, the question remains of when and how MQM-P issues a protest call,\u201d he said, adding that PM Shehbaz must also fulfil his responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The MQM-P leader stressed that his \u201cSOS call\u201d was not just for Bilawal and President Asif Ali Zardari, but also for the prime minister, whom he termed the \u201cguarantor\u201d of the agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He reiterated that MQM-P was \u201cgiving a final warning\u201d to the federal government and PM Shehbaz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou will have to get involved somewhere, or else MQM-P will begin such a protest movement that no one will be able to bring back MQM-P, the people of Karachi and those residing in other cities of Sindh,\u201d Sattar said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He urged the premier to visit Karachi and resolve the matter before \u201cpublic deprivation, injustice and lack of attention and confidence cross all limits and they take to the streets\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sattar said his party was \u201cin contact\u201d with the public regarding a protest movement, adding that the Centre should not interfere later on to stop them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At one point during his press talk, Sattar said he was not addressing Bilawal as much, but rather \u201ccalling on the Centre to fulfil its Constitutional role\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The MQM-P leader said a referendum should be held under Article 149<\/a> of the Constitution, which allows the federal government to issue directives to provinces in certain cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Calling for the abolishment of the quota system for government jobs, Sattar said that even the parity of 60:40 for rural\/urban Sindh agreed under the pact was not implemented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Noting that a joint commission on the issue of fake domiciles had not been formed, the MQM-P leader said President Zardari, or even PM Shehbaz if needed, must get involved if Bilawal failed to implement that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In response to MQM-P\u2019s press conference, Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said the \u201cmandate of the people of Sindh, the 1973 Constitution and the province are not experimental grounds to be targeted whenever a party\u2019s politics becomes weak\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to a statement issued on X by the Sindh Information Department, Memon said Sattar should remember that people of Sindh had given a \u201cclear mandate\u201d to the PPP, adding that \u201cit cannot be changed through a press conference, threat or political blackmailing\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Memon further said: \u201cIf MQM-P wants to get a big share in power, the path lies through the public\u2019s vote. Power cannot be gained through federal intervention or by dragging constitutional institutions into political disputes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Sindh minister contended that MQM-P believed in the \u201cpolitics of shortcuts rather than public mandate\u201d and termed its use of federal intervention as evidence of the party\u2019s \u201cpolitical blackmailing\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMQM-P should not turn the resources of Karachi\u2019s people into a means of political bargaining,\u201d Memon quipped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Further assailing MQM-P, the PPP leader said the former\u2019s demand to hand over Karachi\u2019s matters to the Centre was a \u201cheinous conspiracy against the federal structure\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The minister questioned why MQM-P could not have its promises for Karachi fulfilled despite being a part of the ruling coalition, and urged Sattar\u2019s party to question its allies in the Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While PPP and MQM-P are the ruling PML-N\u2019s allies in the Centre, MQM-P sits in the opposition in the PPP-led Sindh and criticises the provincial government for its administration of Karachi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the deadly<\/a> Gul Plaza fire<\/a> on January 17 sparked a debate<\/a> over the need for reforms in LGs, MQM-P has repeatedly<\/a> called for Karachi to be declared a \u201cfederal territory<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After MQM-P urged<\/a> Bilawal to seek resignations from Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab, the top PPP leadership publicly reaffirmed their confidence<\/a> in the Sindh government and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KARACHI(National Times)- The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) on Saturday warned of issuing a protest call if the Centre did not ensure that the party\u2019s 2022 agreement with PPP on various provincial issues was implemented. MQM-P and PPP had signed an 18-point agreement on March 30, 2022 \u2014 just before the two joined hands with other parties to remove PTI\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a>Sharjeel Memon assails MQM-P\u2019s \u2018political blackmailing\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n