KARACHI: Demanding of Prime Minister Imran Khan to intervene in Sindh to rescue the province in the aftermath of the 18th Amendment, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan on Saturday announced the start of a campaign for the rights of urban Sindh with a rally at Bagh-e-Jinnah on April 27. Addressing at a press conference at the party’s headquarters in Bahadurabad, MQM-P convener and federal minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said in the name of provincial autonomy, the rights of the residents and the resources of urban centers of Sindh have been snatched. “Our party and the residents of urban Sindh have been cheated after the 18th Amendment came into effect,” he said. He said the resources of the provinces should be distributed to the lower class of society. “The common man’s resources are being taken away by the government in the name of provincial autonomy,” he said. Accusing the PPP government of committing injustice with the people of the urban areas of the province, Siddiqui said a biased quota system was imposed on the urban Sindh and the PPP government is exploiting that quota too. He added that people given employment on the basis of a rural quota are being posted in the cities. “Those who divided the country in two have also divided Sindh,” he said.
Appealing to Prime Minister Imran Khan to pay heed to the injustices against Urban Sindh, the federal minister stressed legal steps to ensure the fulfillment of the rights of the urban centers’. The many issues of Karachi could be solved if the prime minister uses his constitutional option, he said. Alleging that all the commissioners, deputy commissioners and other officials of Karachi belonged to the interior of Sindh, the MQM-P convener said this quota system is giving rise to hatred in the urban centres of the province. The MQM-P convener also questioned the impartiality of the Sindh Public Service Commission, alleging that it is not intentionally recruiting the Urdu speakers on government positions and employing the Sindhis against those positions on the fake domiciles of the urban Sindh.
Pushing PM Khan to use his constitutional authority for issues related Karachi, the leadership of the MQM-P asserted that the federal government is obliged to take action against the disparities under Article 149 of the Constitution. Announcing to exhibit its strength on April 27 in a rally at Bagh-e-Jinnah, the MQM-P leader said the party is launching a movement for the rights of the residents of the urban Sindh. Amir Khan, Kunwar Naveed Jameel and other key leaders of the MQM-P, were also present at the press conference.