MQM-P deplores Centre’s snub over picking new governor

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) expressed regret on Tuesday that the federal government kept the party out of the loop while appointing the new governor for Sindh.

Talking to the media after the Sindh Assembly’s session, MQM-Pakistan’s Khawaja Izharul Hassan said his party welcomed Muhammad Zubair Umar’s appointment as the provincial governor.

“But at the same we want to unequivocally clarify that the MQM-P was been consulted by the Centre in the matter.”

Hassan lamented that the snub implied that the federal administration had walked all over the understanding between the stakeholders over governance issues of the province, whereby the governor should represent the urban population if the chief minister was Sindhi-speaking.

He said that if a person had a residence in Karachi and had studied for sometime in the city, it did not mean that he could be considered a true representative of the people of the metropolis.

“Thousands of people visit and reside in Karachi while they study here, but they cannot be counted among the city’s natives.”

Hassan, who is also the opposition leader in the provincial legislature, said it remained to be seen how the new governor would meet the expectations and aspirations of the urban populace of the province.

 

Int’l cricket

The MQM-P leader called on the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to take urgent measures to revive international cricketing activities in the city and at the National Stadium in Karachi because a large number of people in the city were major cricket fans.

The provincial assembly’s opposition leader made these remarks in context of a private resolution passed by the assembly during Tuesday’s session calling upon the PCB to select cricketers to become members of the national team on merit from throughout the country, including that from Sindh.