HYDERABAD: A senior leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Move­ment-Pakistan has said that his party wants to give some time to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf so that it can fulfil its promises.

Amir Khan, the senior deputy convener of the MQM-P’s coordination committee, also said that if PTI did not pay heed to his party’s calls, then it would certainly devise its strategy.

Talking to reporters in an Eid Miladun Nabi gathering at Hasrat Mohani library on Thursday night, he said that the MQM-P had played an important role in the election of Imran Khan as prime minister.

He said that had the MQM-P not offered its support, Mr Khan would not have become the PM.

He said that he would not like to comment on performance of the government but there was certainly no headway as far as two separate agreements the MQM signed with the PTI before joining the government.

Mr Khan said that his satisfaction was irrelevant but the way people were expressing their “satisfaction” over government’s performance was the writing on the wall for the PTI.

He said that the PTI must think whether its policies were bringing laurels or a bad name to it. He said that inflation remained high and dollar remained an all time high as well. He said that situation was quite contrary to what the PTI had claimed.

He said that he was not criticising the ruling PTI but giving a word of advice as a sincere friend that it should take those steps that benefit Pakistan.

The MQM-P leader said that business community was showing unease, which was never seen. He said that his party was not in haste and wanted to give time to the PTI government but if it did not get its issues resolved then it would decide its course of action.

Answering a question about Dr Farooq Sattar, he said that he had been expelled from the party and now he was making different claims which did not matter for the MQM-P.

He said that he could only hope for him that he would mend his ways. He opined that Dr Sattar should not become part of the forces that wanted to weaken the MQM-P.

Mr Khan said that those who had quit the party were always welcome to rejoin the party but they would have to adhere to the party discipline.

He said that the MQM-P had expressed serious reservations over the July 25 polls and report of the European Union observers had also been released in addition to the findings of Fafen. He said that the party’s reservations were endorsed by Fafen. He believed that the results of MQM’s traditional seats were changed.

Mr Khan said that he does not know what would happen in the next local government elections but if the party was allowed to contest the polls freely, it would win all seats of local councils in Karachi, Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas.

He said that the MQM-P won the elections of employees’ union of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board with a thumping majority and it was a message for those who thought that the party was facing a chaos.

He said that as far as local government system was concerned the MQM-P was contacting people and brief them about issues it was confronting with.

The senior leader said that as long as the provincial government was unwilling to devolve powers to LGs, the problems would remain unresolved. He said that the provincial government had usurped LG’s powers which were to be devolved to cities under the 18th Amendment.

He said that the MQM-P was raising its voice in assemblies against what he called a biased and incompetent provincial government. He said that the MQM-P had believed that powers would be devolved not only to provinces but to cities as well in the wake of the 18th Amendment.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2018