MQM-P plans mass protest movement against PPP-led Sindh government

KARACHI, July 1: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P)  has decided to launch a full-fledged public movement against the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led Sindh government, ARY News reported.

MQM-P central leader Anees Qaimkhani held a consultative meeting with central office bearers and members of the National and Provincial Assemblies at the temporary centre in Bahadurabad.

The meeting decided to run a vigorous protest movement against the atrocities, corruption and incompetence of the PPP’s Sindh government.

Anees Qaimkhani announced that MQM-P is starting a decisive public movement against the PPP’s Sindh government.

In the first phase, MQM Pakistan will hold protests at the local level followed by a major protest demonstration, the meeting decided.

Anees Qaimkhani directed office bearers and workers to immediately intensify public outreach to prepare for the protest movement and to finalize candidates for the local government elections.

Earlier, MQM-Pakistan leader Farooq Sattar warned the government that Karachi could see an “action committee” formed if its demands aren’t met.

Speaking in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Sattar said MQM-P has put four demands before the government. He called Article 140-A constitutional amendments a “bitter pill” for one party, but said it should be swallowed. Otherwise, he added, Karachi should be made a federal territory.

“If the agenda isn’t made clear, an action committee will also emerge in Karachi,” Farooq Sattar said.

The MQM-P leader said the time to fulfill promises made to Karachi has come. He noted promises kept coming from 2022 to 2026, but now implementation was needed. Sattar reminded the house that MQM-P’s partnership with PML-N was settled before the elections.

He said Sindh has seen 18 years of poor governance and control over resources. Karachi, he added, was being sacrificed for political expediency. The city needed both an urban package and constitutional reforms, he argued.

Farooq Sattar demanded full implementation of Article 140-A and an empowered local government system. He asked the government to make MQM-P’s constitutional amendment the 28th Amendment. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, he said, should give a timeline for it in the next session.

“Give autonomy and resources to Pakistan’s 144 cities,” Sattar demanded.

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