MQM-P asks PM to help urban Sindh’s residents get rights

Demanding of Prime Minister Imran Khan to intervene in Sindh to rescue the province in the aftermath of the 18th constitutional amendment, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan on Saturday announced the start of a campaign for the rights of urban Sindh by planning a rally at Bagh-e-Jinnah on April 27.

Addressing at a press conference at the party’s temporary headquarters in Bahadurabad, MQM-P convener and federal minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said that in the name of provincial autonomy, the rights of residents and resources of urban centers of Sindh had been snatched. “Our party and residents of urban Sindh have been cheated after the 18th amendment came into effect,” he said.

He advised that the resources of the provinces should be distributed to the lower class of society. “The common man’s resources are being taken by the government in the name of provincial autonomy,” he said Accusing the Pakistan Peoples Party’s provincial government of doing injustices to people living in urban areas of the province, Siddiqui said a biased quota system had been imposed on urban Sindh and the PPP government was exploiting that quota too.

He said Sindh had already been divided with the implementation of the quota system and by stripping the Muhajir community off of their properties under the pretext of nationalisation. “Those who divided the country in two have also divided Sindh,” he said.

Appealing to Prime Minister Imran Khan to pay heed to the injustices being done to Sindh, the federal minister stressed legal steps to ensure the fulfillment of urban centers’ rights. He added that people were given employment on the basis of a rural quota and then were deployed in cities.

The many issues of Karachi could be solved if the prime minister used his constitutional rights, he said.

Alleging that all commissioners, deputy commissioners and other officials of Karachi belonged to the interior of Sindh, the MQM-P convener said that this quota system was giving rise to hatred in urban areas of the province.

He also questioned the impartiality of the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC), alleging that it had intentionally been not recruiting Urdu speakers on government positions and employed Sindhis against those positions on fake domiciles of urban Sindh.

Pushing PM Khan to use his constitutionals authority in the matters of Karachi, the leadership of the MQM-P asserted that the federal government was obliged to take action against the disparities of people under Article 149 of the Constitution of Pakistan.

Announcing to exhibit its strength on April 27 in a rally in Bagh-e-Jinnah, the MQM-P leader said that the party had been launching movements for the rights of the residents of urban Sindh.

Amir Khan and Kunwar Naveed Jameel, other key leaders of the MQM-P, were also present at the press conference.