Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s offer makes ripples: PM Imran Khan seeks to address MQM-P’s reservations

ISLAMABAD: The government team comprising senior members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on the directions of Prime Minister Imran Khan would meet central leadership of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) in next few days seeking its continuous support to Imran-led federal government in the face of fast growing challenges, reliable sources told The News here on Tuesday.

“Prime Minister Imran Khan took strong notice of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari offer to the MQM-P and directed the government team to meet MQM-P leadership and assure them that the federal government would fulfill all its promises made for the uplift of Karachi,” the sources said. The sources said the government team would consist of ‘trouble shooter’ Jahangir Khan Tareen, Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak and Adviser to the Prime Minister on Establishment Shahzad Arbab.

They said the government team would strongly assure the MQM-P leadership on various issues such as the Karachi package worth Rs162 billion, construction of Hyderabad University, water supply projects for the port city and audit of the constituencies earlier identified by the MQM-P.

The MQM-P holds six National Assembly seats in July 2018 elections and made an agreement with the PTI for formation of its government in the Centre.

The PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Monday had asked the MQM-P to quit the PTI coalition government and join the Sindh government and they were prepared to give it the same number of ministries in the Sindh province as they now have in the federal cabinet. Sindh Minister for Local Government Nasir Hussain Shah also announced his readiness to quit his ministerial portfolio if the PPP leadership decides to give it to the MQM-P.

The sources said the reservations being shown by the coalition partners have rattled the PTI government that enjoys a very thin majority in the lower house of Parliament. The PTI after general elections on July 25, 2018 barely managed to cross the magical figure of 172 required to obtain simple majority in the 342-seat National Assembly with support of the coalition parties. The coalition partners including MQM-P, Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q), Grand Democratic

Alliance (GDA), Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) and nine independents helped PTI form the federal government.

The “Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Ellahi on Tuesday reasserted that the talks between him and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman during protest sit-in in Islamabad is a matter of trust between them,” the sources said. Previously, the BNP-M chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal had also threatened that if Prime Minister Imran Khan failed to implement six-point agenda presented by his party, they would part ways with the PTI in the Centre.

The GDA’s Pir Pagara had also maintained that the people of Sindh were disappointed with performance of the PTI government as it turned a blind eye to the local issues of the Sindh province.

The sources said PTI’s senior leader Jahangir Khan Tareen along with the government team would also give timeframe to the MQM-P leadership for release of funds by the federal government for the development projects in Karachi.

Despite repeated attempts by this correspondent both PTI leaders Jahangir Khan Tareen and Adviser to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan were not available for comments.