LAHORE - MQM central leader Dr Farooq Sattar has said that his party will support PML-N government on its all good initiatives and they were desirous of developing good working relations with it, in yet another sign that the Karachi-based opposition party wished to join the federal government. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) had supported the ruling party’s presidential candidate Mamnoon Hussain after a high level delegation of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz visited Muttahida’s Karachi headquarter Nine Zero, effecting a thaw in the two parties relationship after a freeze spanning a couple of decades.
Talking to newsmen at Lahore International Airport on Sunday‚ MQM Parliamentary Leader in National Assembly Dr Farooq Sattar said that they also wanted to have good relations with the PPP’s Sindh government, but at the same time criticised its former partner over governance issues and the Local Bodies System (LBS).
Dr Farooq said his party has made a new beginning with the PML-N at the federal level and “we hope that the coalition would be in the larger interest of country and nation”. He stressed that national issues can be solved by taking all political parties into confidence. He said that consensus over a national agenda is necessary to take country forward.
He said MQM supported PML-N presidential candidate and “we want to establish good relations with it as it is one of the biggest political parties in the country and it should be given a chance to solve problems in the country”. He said in politics, options do not end and one can't close doors to opponents and negotiations between political parties are part of democracy.
The MQM leader said the PML-N should also consult other parties on all major issues to pull out the country from the crisis. He urged the ruling party to take all political parties on board to chalk out a joint plan against terrorism, power crisis, poverty, unemployment and other challenges being faced by the country.
Dr Farooq opined that absence of Local Bodies (LBs) resulted in massive destruction in Karachi and other areas. If LBs would have been functional the situation would have been much different, he remarked. He said that during last five years, no provincial government succeeded in running the local government system in accordance with people’s needs.
He urged that democracy should be expanded to town and village level by restoration of local bodies system with necessary powers. He said that Sindh government has not yet disbursed salaries to 70,000 employees and a campaign would be started for their rights after Eidul Fitar.
Our staff reporter from Karachi adds: “Local Bodies system is the need of the hour to solve the basic problems of the common people”, said Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) Coordination Committee.
In a statement here on Sunday, it said that in the absence of Local Government system in Sindh neither any arrangement was made to overcome the problems after expected heavy seasonal rainfalls and nor any effective measures were taken in respect of rain-emergency.
Stormy rainfalls and stoppages of ‘rain canals’ wreaked havoc in Karachi, Hyderabad and many other cities, villages of Sindh, where roads and residential areas looked like ponds.
The Committee said that the rain-caused difficulties to the common people have proved the stance of MQM and its Chief Altaf Hussain that there was immediate need of Local Bodies system in Sindh especially in Karachi.
It demanded of Chief Minister Sindh, Syed Qaim Ali Shah that keeping in view the problems faced by the common people, sensible decisions had to be taken, Local Bodies election should immediately be held without any further delay and until holding Local Bodies election in Sindh, Syed Mustafa Kamal and Kunwar Naveed Jamil had to be appointed as temporary ‘Nazims’ of Karachi and Hyderabad.
The Committee showed grief and sorrow over the deaths of many people.