KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and the Awami National Party (ANP) on Monday agreed on an empowered local government in Sindh with effective policing under the system and vowed that the political entities in the province despite their ideological differences would struggle jointly to attain the desired objective.

The consensus among the two past rivals emerged when leaders of the ANP visited the MQM-P’s temporary headquarters in Bahadurabad, where the two sides held discussions over the current political situation mainly in Karachi and fast changing scene in Sindh after the passage of the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Act 2021.

The two sides also deliberated on the role of opposition parties in the aftermath of the new law.

Led by Senator Shahi Syed, the ANP delegation met MQM-P convenor Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqi, former Karachi mayor Wasim Akhtar and other leaders of the party.

Talking to journalists after the meeting, the leaders from both sides made cordial gestures and called for ‘looking forward’ and decided to bury the hatchet.

Shahi Syed strongly criticised the ‘dual standards’ of the Pakistan Peoples Party government in Sindh, which demanded observance of parliamentary norms in the Centre, but itself crushing all the democratic traditions in the province.

“I really wonder how Sindh Minister Saeed Ghani and others criticise the federal government, but never give space to opposition parties in the Sindh Assembly,” he said.

“This recently passed bill of the local government is another shameful example of this strategy. The people of Sindh and mainly its urban centre of Karachi are of different ethnic entities and they demand strong, unbiased and effective local government system.”

Dr Siddiqi of the MQM-P supported his idea.

He said the MQM-P believed in inclusiveness in politics and its recent contacts with parties with different ideologies was the reflection of its strategy of peace and pursuing dialogue for resolution of differences.

“The argument we give for the empowered local government system is quite natural and that’s why it convinces party of every ideology. We demand empowered representatives at grassroots level and everyone agrees with this idea except the ruling PPP,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2022