KARACHI: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) said they made "visible progress" as the government bolstered efforts to woo its disgruntled ally a few days after MQM-P convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui resigned from the federal cabinet.
"MQM-P has not left the government, and it won't leave our side in the near future," said Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, speaking to media after negotiations were held between delegations of the two parties.
The PTI leader said there was talk of the MQM-P withdrawing support for the government when that was not the case. He said that the MQM-P had left the federal cabinet but was still supporting the PTI government.
"We have discussed the problems, and a consensus will be developed soon," the defence minister said.
Khattak said when the PTI had taken reins of the country in 2018, Pakistan was faced with numerous problems. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan will lead the country out of the economic crisis it was in at the moment and take Pakistan forward.
He also informed that both parties would meet again soon in Islamabad to further discuss MQM-P's reservations.
"We will spend the rest of the tenure together," Khattak said confidently.
"The PTI knew about these problems before we joined hands to form the federal government," Siddiqui said , saying that the MQM-P had given the ruling party "unconditional support" during the its time of need.
"We joined the PTI government without vested interests," he said, saying that the MQM-P was fighting the case of the common man. He said that the MQM-P had been waiting for a long time for the government to resolve their issues.
"The PTI is a witness to the demands we put forward before them and even you [reporters] may have the main points [of the demands] in your hands," he said.
"Before forming the collation MQM-P put forward the problems of Sindh and Karachi asking the government to resolve them," the MQM-P leader said.
The demands accepted by the government became their promises and the issues put forward by us became our demands, he added.
"In the past 11 years economic terrorism took place in the province," he noted.
Siddiqui said the 18th Amendment had been misused in the past and that power had yet to be devolved to the lower level. He said Sindh's urban areas "are in the Intensive Care Unit" and those areas of the country should be taken care of by the government whose shopkeepers, traders and industrialists were "fulfilling their responsibilities" and generating revenue.
"I urge the PTI government to resolve Sindh’s urban areas' problems quickly," he said. Siddiqui said people shouldn't be made to beg for their rights in cities where they were paying taxes and generating revenue for the government.
Replying to question Khattak said: "We have no magical wand, we didn’t promise anything we couldn’t accomplish, and the MQM-P has witnessed it."
In a bid to reconcile with their disgruntled allies, a high-level Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) delegation met the MQM-P at their headquarters in Karachi.
Jahangir Tareen, Asad Umar, Khattak and other local PTI leaders were present at the meeting. Amir Khan, Khalid Maqbool and several others were present from the MQM-P side.
The government’s coalition partners — MQM-P, Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) — have expressed reservations with the government over the past few weeks.
MQM-P Convener Siddiqui also resigned from the federal cabinet last week.
"We had promised the government to help with the formation of the government and we held our end of the deal. However, none of the promises made to us have seen any progress,” Siddiqui had said in a press conference after announcing his resignation.
The PML-Q — another important ally of the government — held talks with a PTI delegation earlier this week, giving them a week’s deadline to fulfill two important demands.
PML-Q leader Kamil Ali Agha confirmed that the party had asked the government to let it run its ministries in the Punjab government without interference. The PML-Q has also asked the government to release development funds for its ministers.
Agha said his party would decide what to do in case the PTI does not comply with the two demands. He said it was a “relevant question” as to what the PML-Q would do.