Muttahida to welcome repeal of 18th Amendment, says Kamal

Pakistan cannot progress under the current system where power and resources do not trickle down from the offices of the prime minister and chief ministers.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Senior Deputy Convener Mustafa Kamal said this while speaking to media representatives outside an accountability courts on Saturday.

“The country has suffered the most damage due to the 18th Amendment. We do not consider such provincial autonomy legitimate that does not transfer power and resources to the district level. If the 18th Amendment is abolished, the MQM-Pakistan will welcome it,” he said.

He lamented that the Pakistani youth were disappointed and the universities were producing unemployed individuals.

Kamal remarked that according to the demands of the new era, there was a need for modern education so that the Pakistani youth could not only achieve better positions worldwide but also serve the country.

India had sent its youth across the world by providing them quality education, he said, adding that Pakistan also needed to make its youth self-reliant through technical education.

The MQM-P leader said the budget of Sindh was Rs1,076 billion and Karachi received only Rs37 billion. He remarked that after the 18th Amendment, there was an 815 per cent increase in Sindh's budget.

He said the MQM-P proposed three constitutional amendments to run the country efficiently. The first amendment should include the mayoral powers in the constitution similar to those of the prime minister and chief minister.

The second amendment should make the National Finance Commission award conditional on the Provincial Finance Commission award. The third amendment should make the national and provincial assembly elections conditional on the local bodies elections.

Kamal said whoever was elected as the prime minister, the MQM-P would ask him to introduce these constitutional amendments.

Public meeting

Meanwhile, addressing a public meeting on Burnes Road on Saturday night, MQM-P Convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said the prosperity of Pakistan was dependent on the prosperity of Karachi and if Karachi flourished, Pakistan would flourish.

He said the residents of Burnes Road had been running Karachi. We will put Karachi back on its feet within three months, he claimed.

In an apparent reference to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the MQM-P chief said the mindset of those who had brought Karachi to this state during the past 15 years needed to be changed, and if that mindset was not changed, no improvements could be observed in the future.

He said the Constitution could neither protect Karachi nor Pakistan and its democracy.

The heirs of this country were all geared up to take care of the nation, he remarked. “We have to lead Pakistan towards its destination. Feudal democracy will not allow Pakistan to progress,” said Dr Siddiqui.

Speaking on the occasion, MQM-P Senior Deputy Convener Dr Farooq Sattar said Karachi was the financial engine of Pakistan. When University Road, Saddar, and II Chundrigar Road were active, it meant Pakistan was active, he stated.

He lamented that Karachi paid four thousand billion rupees in taxes and received forty billion rupees in return.

He said that a mayor had been imposed on Karachi forcefully and the PPP had turned Karachi into ruins during its rule in the province for the last 15 years.