Keep focus on Karachi, not ministries, Bilawal Bhutto tells MQM

ISLAMABAD: The PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday again advised the MQM-P to quit the government alliance and focus on resolving problems of Karachi instead of demanding more ministries.

Talking to journalists at the Parliament House, Bilawal said it did not appear as if the PTI coalition partners would continue working with the ruling party. Bilawal said the slogans against the PTI were being raised in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said the prime minister had taken a U-turn on his earlier claim of providing jobs, as well as other things pertaining to welfare work. He said the federal government was not resolving the issues of Karachi.

The PPP chairman said the MQM, on one hand, claims to address the problems of Karachi and on the other also admits that the PTI did not fulfil its promises. “It is in the power of MQM to leave federal government and solve the problems of Karachi,” he said. Bilawal Bhutto expressed the hope that the ongoing issue of Sindh Inspector General of Police Kaleem Imam would be resolved soon with consultations between Prime Minister Imran Khan and Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah.

To a question, Bilawal said there is a lot of differences between the ideologies of the PPP and MQM. “We all should try to resolve Karachi’s issues together,” he said. He said the wheat crisis is a very serious issue as there was even a food crisis in the times of General (retd) Pervez Musharraf as well and during Musharraf’s regime Pakistan was buying wheat from other countries despite being an agricultural country. He said former president Asif Ali Zardari turned a country again into a wheat exporter. “Our growers were economically murdered since this PTI government has come to power,” he said.

About speculation with regard to the FBR chairman going on medical leave, Bilawal said Imran Khan is so non-serious that he cannot work even with his own team. Bilawal also called for bringing back the stranded Pakistanis in China. “We have raised the issue of the stranded Pakistanis in the National Assembly and the government’s minister has assured us that measures are being taken for the stranded people,” he said.