Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori has said that Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) will not part ways with the ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
While answering a question on a television show regarding the tumultuous relations between the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and MQM-P, the governor said that he hopes that such a situation will not arise in which a rift between the two parties causes concern for the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N).
“No, I don’t think such a situation will arise. [The] MQM will remain part of [the] PDM. We will try that everyone is understanding and not be a cause of trouble for the people,” Tessori replied.
The Sindh governor furthered that “people are already very worried. There is no gas across the country, there is a power and water crisis, people are getting unemployed, the economy is unstable. At this time, instead of criticising each other, [we should] work for the people”.
He maintained that this is not a time for politics but to serve the people. The latest statement by the governor comes as MQM-P warned that it would leave the ruling coalition if the second phase of the local government (LB) elections in Karachi were held without changing the present constituencies.
The LB polls in Karachi and Hyderabad will be held on January 15.
Addressing a news conference at the MQM-P’s headquarters in Karachi‘s Bahadurabad neighbourhood earlier this week, the party’s convener, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, accompanied by members of its Rabita (coordination) Committee, said that the party was ready for the LG polls even if they were held on January 10 as long as the party’s demand for drawing out fresh constituencies in the city was met.
Siddiqui further told the media that even though the MQM-P was not a formal ally of the PPP, his party had thoroughly discussed and agreed on several matters about Sindh with it in the province, especially the constituencies in its urban areas.
“However, the delimitation of constituencies carried out in the province were against the law and Constitution,” he lamented.
Following the threat by MQM-P to separate from the coalition government, the PPP shared the details of the benefits the party has received from the federal government.
According to sources, the PPP has also complained about the behaviour of MQM-P to the federation and allies.
Moreover, as the two parties drift apart ahead of the LB polls, the Sindh government, acting on directives of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), removed three administrators of municipal corporations appointed on Muttahida’s recommendation.
In a major development ahead of the second phase of LG polls in Karachi and Hyderabad divisions, three administrators appointed on the recommendation of MQM-P were removed from their posts and more than 100 officers of various municipal corporations were also stopped from working.
Their appointments were part of the deal MQM-P had made with PPP to help in the ouster of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.
In the latest development, a delegation of the MQM-P led by Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui met with Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman to discuss local body elections in Karachi.
During the meeting, the situation in Karachi and local elections were discussed between the two parties.
On this occasion, the MQM-P also invited the JI to participate in the protest rally on January 9.
