ISLAMABAD: Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) will not join the cabinet of Shehbaz Sharif who is scrambling to piece together an administration even two days after being elected as the prime minister.
The party, which is based in urban Sindh and has seven members in the 342-seat National Assembly, instead wants the agreement it made with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) implemented in letter and spirit “for the well-being of Karachi”, it told Sharif who visited its headquarters in Bahadurabad neighbourhood of the provincial capital.
“The commitments are significant, which need to be fulfilled,” party convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said.
“MQM-P wishes to extend its support to the broad-based government from the outside,” The News reported.
The report added the decision has already been conveyed to Sharif with whom convener Siddiqui discussed the formation of the cabinet “in detail”.
However, Siddiqui did not comment on former Karachi mayor and colleague Waseem Akhtar’s remarks where he criticised Sharif for not mentioning commitments with the MQM-P in his maiden speech after being elected premier.
KARACHI VISIT
Sharif arrived on a day-long visit to Karachi earlier in the day and chaired, among other meetings, a consultative meeting on the development projects.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Miftah Ismael, Siddiqi, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Maulana Asad Mehmood, Akram Durrani and concerned officials accompanied him.
Sharif along with the leaders of allied parties will pay his respects at the mausoleum of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
The purpose of the visit to the mausoleum is to reiterate the observance of the golden principles of the founder of the nation aimed at the progress and prosperity of the country.
Sharif will also visit the Sindh Chief Minister’s House where he will be briefed about the civic problems of the metropolitan.
