• Former president discusses ‘Charter of Karachi’ with Raza Haroon and Advocate Anis
• PPP will secure power in the Centre with Karachiites’ votes, vows Asif Zardari

KARACHI: Raza Haroon and Advocate Anis Ahmed, the two former leaders of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement who had left the organisation for the Pak Sarzameen Party in 2016, joined the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Friday. The duo met with PPP-Parliamentarian president Asif Ali Zardari at Bilawal House, where the latter welcomed him for joining the PPP.

It is their third political association in around seven years. Both Mr Haroon and Advocate Ahmed had spent decades with the Altaf Hussain-led MQM as members of the coordination committee. Mr Haroon was a former member of the Sindh Assembly and a provincial minister while Advocate Ahmed was a former MNA from Mirpurkhas.

In 2016, they joined former Karachi mayor Syed Mustafa Kamal upon his return from the UAE and became founding members of the PSP. Mr Haroon was the secretary general and Advocate Ahmed was the senior vice chairman of the PSP until 2018 when they became in active after developing differences with Mr Kamal.

‘Charter of Karachi’

A statement issued from Bilawal House said that Mr Zardari welcomed the two leaders and discussed with them issues related with Karachi and its development.

“During the meeting, President Zardari and former leaders of MQM’s coordination committee discussed the Charter of Karachi for the development, prosperity, peace and reconciliation environment of the metropolis,” the statement said.

Mr Zardari was of the view that the Charter of Karachi would have a far-reaching impact on the future of the metropolis.

“PPP is the party of Karachiites...We are working together with the people of Karachi to restore the past glory of the city of lights that had been taken away by the enemies of peace and the merchants of hatred,” the statement quoted Mr Zardari as saying.

“The PPP will come to power at the Centre with the votes of the people of Karachi,” he said, adding” “PPP will be become the first party elected by the people of Karachi that will rule the federation.”

Mr Zardari said that the future of Karachi was Looking at Karachi’s future as Dubai, Mr Zardari said: “We want investments to come to Karachi from all over the world and Karachi to become an economic hub on the lines of Dubai, which will not only give Pakistan rather, due to its important geographical position, investors from all over the world could also benefit from the city.”

During the meeting, he specifically mentioned PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s 10-point agenda and reiterated his commitment, saying: “After coming to power, we will introduce such welfare schemes for every city and town of the country, including Karachi, which will undoubtedly provide relief to the common man from the worst inflation.”

The Bilawal House statement, however, didn’t share any thoughts expressed by the two leaders, who had in the past strongly criticised the PPP and its governance of Karachi on social media platforms.

It may be noted that many former MQM leaders and senior workers had joined the PPP in the past few months.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2023