KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) announced on Tuesday that it would hold an All Parties Conference (APC) on issues confronting Karachi and to make Sindh and Pakistan strong.

The party had sought suggestions from people across the country in this regard, a member of the coordination committee of the party said.

Khawja Izharul Hassan, a member of the Sindh Assembly, said at a press conference that his party had supported the Sindh government during the Covid-19 emergency, and it also stood by the federal government.

He said that a committee had been constituted on development work in Karachi a few days back, but then the chief minister of Sindh suddenly said that no one would be made a stakeholder in the Sindh government.

Izharul Hassan accused the chief minister of sabotaging the committee on the grounds that the committee had been formed between federal and provincial governments and not between political parties.

He asked the youth of the province why Sindh felt endangered when development of Karachi was being talked about. "When it comes to taking funds from Karachi, it becomes a part of the province," the MQM-P leader said. Izharul Hassan said that his party hadn't raised its voice for Karachi only but for the entire province of Sindh. "If we say that the metro bus is necessary for the city it means that Karachi really requires it," Izhar said. He thanked the prime minister for sending the National Disaster Management Authority and the Frontier Works Organization to Karachi for relief activities. However, he said this was a temporary solution.

He said that the solution to the problems of Karachi lied in empowering the local government institutions through Article 140-A of the Constitution.

He also commended the Chief Justice of Pakistan for taking notice of issues of Karachi and appealed to him to hear the petition the MQM-P had filed at the apex court about Article 140-A and census.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020