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MQM-P slams Murad’s criticism of new province proponents

By Our Correspondent
May 24, 2018

Reacting to Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah’s criticism of people demanding Sindh’s division, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) said on Wednesday that the CM never behaved the same way with those who demanded the province’s separation from the country.

Addressing a news conference, MQM-P Bahadurabad leader Faisal Subzwari said the chief executive’s speech was “condemnable, shameful and deplorable”. He said the Constitution never read the demand of a separate province as sedition, yet the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has been showing its biasness towards the people of urban Sindh.

Referring to the demand of a southern Punjab province, which the PPP backs, Subzwari asked, “Did Shah mean that he also curses Bilawal Bhutto Zardari?” Accusing the CM and the PPP of having double standards, Subzwari said the Peoples Party kept quite when people under their very noses raised slogans for ‘Sindhudesh’ and the disintegration of the country, but they cursed the people who demanded their rights.

He said the PPP is happy with the people in urban Sindh being subjected to injustices and their share in resources being unlawfully and unethically cut down by declaring the controversial results of the 2017 population census as final. “Not conducting the audit of five per cent of residential blocks in Karachi [sanctioned by the National Assembly] amount to pre-poll rigging,” added the MQM-P leader.

He said the PPP did not want to give Karachi the status of a metropolitan city nor did the party wish to give its local bodies the powers under Article 140-A of the Constitution. He said Karachi generates 90 per cent of the total revenue of the province, but in return does not even get 10 per cent of it. “In this case, calls for a separate province are inevitable.” Subzwari said the matter is not about Mohajirs and Sindhis, but about the divide in rural and urban Sindh.

He claimed that the PPP is not sincere with the province, as it did not raise a voice on leaving around 15 million of the people uncounted in the recent census because the party knows that considering the facts, the urban population will surpass the rural population.

He alleged that the PPP is neglecting the urban centres in the province because they are mostly made up of Mohajir populace. He deplored the role of the Election Commission of Pakistan and the institutions dispensing justice in this matter, saying that it seems they do not have a space in courts to raise their concerns.  

Protest on 26th

MQM-P PIB leader Ali Raza Abidi announced through the micro-blogging website Twitter that his group chief Dr Farooq Sattar has convened a protest demonstration at 10pm on May 26 at the Liaquatabad No 10 roundabout against the CM’s remarks. The PIB group has also invited the Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi and the Pak Sarzameen Party to join them.