KARACHI (Dunya News/Web Desk) – MQM-P Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui on Saturday warned that they had presented three points to the country’s rulers which must be accepted, otherwise, the “six points” might be repeated.
“These three points are about the people of Pakistan’s freedom and sovereignty,” he told party supporters at a rally held in Gulshan-e-Iqbal – a middle class neighbourhood of the city.
He was talking about the constitutional amendment suggested and shared with the PML-N for empowering the local governments in Pakistan with a special focus on Karachi, as the MQM-P derives its mandate from Sindh’s urban centres and wants devolving powers to the grass root levels.
Siddiqui said those who ruled for the last 15 years had only plundered the country – an obvious reference to the PPP that has been in the Sindh government since 2008.
Those involved in billions of rupees of corruption have become a security risk, Siddiqui said about the former PTI chairman and the May 9 violence triggered by his party and added that the world would witness the fate of oppressors.
Read more: PML-N and MQM-P eye maximum electoral gains in Sindh, strong local governments
In his speech, Dr Farooq Sattar said the PPP government in Sindh had taken over the control of all departments in a clear violation of the constitution, as he criticised the centralisation policy pursued and championed by the party in the province where the local governments have very little powers.
He stressed the need for identifying the mistakes made in the past and correcting the same so that the country could move forward.
Sattar remarked that one Shah had been replaced with another during the last 15 years only to occupy the chief minister’s house and snatch the resources, adding that the pharaohs had made their sons missing and “we would make their corruption and exploitation go missing”.
Earlier, Mustafa Kamal said they did not aim at ministries and offices, as [transfer of] powers [to the local governments] was their goal.
Some people were making an attempt and dreaming of taking over Karachi, but the city had never been occupied in the past nor it would be in the future, he remarked.
He told the MQM-P supporters that they had “rescued” 7.3 million in the census, which increased Karachi’s share in National Assembly by one seat and in Sindh Assembly by three.