After a crucial meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the MQM Pakistan leadership, the party has expressed extraordinary hope in the powers of local governments and the issue of missing workers.
In the meeting, MQM Pakistan once again placed its long-standing demands before the government, which included issues such as an empowered local government system, development plans for urban Sindh, recovery of missing workers and appointment of the party-nominated governor in Sindh.
The Prime Minister assured the delegation that a special committee would be formed to make serious progress on these issues. The aim of this committee would be to build political consensus on the proposed constitutional amendment and consult with different parties.
According to MQM Pakistan leader Syed Aminul Haque, the situation is quite different from the past because now many political parties in the parliament are in favour of strengthening local governments. He said that the committee would also contact the opposition parties to build a broader consensus on this issue.
He hoped that other parties, including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, would not oppose the principled stance of devolution of powers to local governments.
The issue of missing workers was also discussed in the meeting. According to MQM Pakistan, the prime minister has directed the Interior Ministry and the Defence Ministry to play a role in this matter, which has created hope for real progress after many years.
The development of urban Sindh was also an important topic of the meeting. MQM Pakistan demanded that the federal government pay special attention to infrastructure, transport, water, sanitation and other basic facility projects in Karachi and other urban areas.
According to government sources, the Prime Minister assured the delegation that positive steps would be taken to solve the problems of urban Sindh and complete development projects.
Political analysts say that in the current political environment, the increasing contact between the government and the coalition parties could affect future legislation. If the constitutional amendment related to local governments, in particular, gains broad political support, it could form the basis for a significant change in the country’s administrative structure.
MQM Pakistan described the meeting as encouraging, saying that the attitude of the prime minister and the government team was positive and that the path to practical progress on many important issues seemed to be opening.
