PTI fails to woo MQM to withdraw decision

KARACHI: The delegation of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led by federal minister Asad Umar on Monday failed to convince the leaders of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) – a major ally – to rejoin the federal cabinet.

The situation for the ruling party turned more fragile when the Pir Pagara-led Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), another coalition partner from Sindh province, also showed its anger on Monday with the federal government on failing to fulfill its demands.

After MQM-P convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui on Sunday announced to resign from his post as Minister for Information Technology, lamenting federal government’s ‘non-seriousness’ to fulfill its promises, Prime Minister Imran Khan had tasked federal minister Asad Umar to visit the MQM-P’s office to placate them. However, the MQM-P leader Siddiqui, at a post-meeting press conference at the party’s office, alongside Umar, reiterated its earlier decision to quit the federal cabinet. However, he clarified that the party will continue to support the coalition government in the center.

Earlier, during the meeting with the PTI delegation, Siddiqui complained against the government for not fulfilling most of the promises made in the nine-point Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the formation of a new government in the centre. The government should implement the promises rather than make verbal claims, demanding setting a final date for releasing funds to the municipalities,” the MQM-P leader said.

Umar, the federal minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiative, said the main purpose of the meeting with MQM-P leaders was to update them on the development projects in Karachi that the federal government was working on. Acknowledging that MQM-P’s demands as correct, Umar said both the parties want to give the Karachi residents their rights they were deprived of in the past ten years. “We also want Siddiqui to stay in the cabinet,” he said. Asad Umar said several development projects have been initiated in Karachi and hopefully Prime Minister Imran Khan would visit the city early next month to inaugurate some of them. In the meeting between both parties held at MQM-P's temporary headquarters in Bahadurabad, Umar, party’s Sindh leaders Firdous Shamim Naqvi, Haleem Adil Sheikh and Khurram Sher Zaman were part of the federal government’s delegation. From the MQM-P’s side, the party convener Siddiqui, Amir Khan, Kanwar Naveed Jamil, Khawaja Izharul Hassan, and Syed Aminul Haque participated the meeting.

Taking advantage of the presence of Umar-led government delegation in Karachi, the leaders of the GDA on Monday said they are also not satisfied with the federal government for not fulfilling their demands. Sardar Abdul Raheem, the GDA’s spokesperson, saidthat the GDA had supported the PTI in forming the government in the center for resolving the issues faced by residents of Sindh. “But we are disappointed with the PTI government’s performance as it has turned a blind eye to the province’s issues,” he told The News.

Raheem said that leaders of Sindh-based political alliance will wait for a few days more and soon convene a consultative meeting of leaders of the GDA’s component parties to review its coalition with the federal government. The GDA has three seats in the National Assembly and former speaker Dr. Fahmida Mirza is the part of the federal cabinet on the GDA’s quota.