MQM-P to hold sit-in on Sunday against Sindh govt, ECP

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has announced holding a sit-in on Sunday, February 12, at Fawara Chowk near the Governor House against the Sindh government and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

MQM-P Senior Deputy Convener Syed Mustafa Kamal made the announcement to this effect on Wednesday as he addressed a press conference along with Deputy Convener Anis Kaimkhani and members of the party’s coordination committee.

“The MQM-Pakistan has the constitutional right to stage a sit-in and the reason for this is that the Sindh government and the Election Commission of Pakistan are not listening to us,” he said, adding that the problems of the urban areas of Sindh, including Karachi, had gone to their peak.

He remarked that if these problems were not resolved, they would become a national security issue. Kamal said that on the reservations of the MQM-P regarding delimitations, the Sindh government wrote a letter to the ECP admitting its mistake regarding 53 union committees (UCs).

He added that the commission had no justification for holding the polls after the Sindh government's letter. He was of the view that all the parties that participated in the local government elections stabbed Karachi in the back.

The MQM-P leader said that the aim of the sit-in on February 12 was to implement the letter written by the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) government to the ECP. “After the Sindh government’s letter, there were no constituencies in Karachi so how were the local government polls conducted?” he asked. He added that the PPP through fake constituencies imposed its mayor in Hyderabad.

He said the quota system was imposed on Karachi, due to which the city had been deprived of jobs. The water for the people of Karachi was being sold for money through illegal hydrants, he remarked and added that a minister of the PPP said he would not allow a university to be built in Hyderabad.

The MQM-P leader maintained that ministers of Asif Ali Zardari were spreading fake stories about the PPP conquering Karachi. The ministers of the PPP should not create problems for their leaders with their rhetoric, he said.

He said that due to biased policies of the PPP, the Mohajir nation was dying. He added that the Mohajir community had realised that it was better to die fighting for rights rather than dying at homes after drinking sewage. “We are coming to demonstrate a protest for unlimited days. We are not going to the red zone but we will protest outside it,” said Kamal.