MQM-P must be consulted before Sindh governor is changed: Siddiqui

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan Chairman Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has said the MQM-Pakistan has to be consulted beforehand if the federal government decides to appoint a new governor in Sindh.

He stated this on Saturday while talking to media persons after attending a ceremony in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal area of the city as part of his party’s ongoing monsoon tree plantation drive.

The MQM chairman commented on the possible appointment of a new Sindh governor amid media reports the previous day that the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had developed a consensus on this issue.

The media reports said Sindh PML-N leader and former DG Federal Investigation Agency Bashir Memon could be the next governor based on this understanding.

Talking to media persons, Siddiqui said that his party didn’t follow rumours. He mentioned that the incumbent Sindh governor Kamran Khan Tessori did belong to the MQM-Pakistan.

Answering a question regarding the recent protest drive of the Jamaat-e-Islami, he said the electricity prices had further increased after the JI had decided to wrap up his protest sit-in. “This was probably the only protest sit-in in the country which culminated in further hiking the electricity prices in the country,” he said.

Answering a question, he backed the idea of holding talks with the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Imran Khan, while terming it the only viable option.

Earlier, speaking at the ceremony, the MQM-Pakistan chief lamented that earlier no effort had been made to increase the green cover in Karachi. He praised the support given by the MQM’s supporters and sympathisers for conducting the latest plantation drive at the national level. He said Karachi’s prosperity and development were a prerequisite for the development and progress of the entire country. He said the tax generated from Karachi accounted for up to 65 per cent of the national revenue pool. He said the government paid salaries to its servants based on the taxes collected from the city.

Amid media reports that the PPP and the PML-N have developed consensus to appoint a new governor in Sindh, the incumbent governor, Kamran Khan Tessori, has reiterated his resolve to continue serving the people in the province in his current official capacity.

Talking to media persons in Islamabad on Saturday, he said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, President Asif Ali Zardari and MQM-P chief Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui had confidence in him.

“The positions are not held by anyone permanently as the positions are given and withdrawn, but it is important to serve in a manner that people will always remember you,” he said.

Tessori mentioned that the federal government had the authority to retain a person as a provincial governor or appoint a new governor and he had never put forth the demand that he would remain the governor permanently.

He said he fully believed in public service as he never practised politics as the governor. He said that up to one million people were expected to attend the 14th August festivities at the Sindh Governor House.

“I would tell those behind these reports that I am not the one who gets panicked [by such reports],” the governor added.

MQM senior leader Dr Farooq Sattar, who flanked Tessori during the media talk, said that rumours regarding the replacement of the governor keep circulating.

“No one talked to us nor did any consultation take place (in this regard),” he added.