KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQMP) Chairman and Federal Minister Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has announced a broad-based national dialogue with political parties on the creation of new provinces and administrative units, saying population-based restructuring of the country’s administrative system has become inevitable.
Addressing a press conference at the MQMP headquarters in Bahadurabad on Sunday, Siddiqui, flanked by senior party leaders Anees Qaimkhani, Mustafa Kamal and Dr Farooq Sattar, said the MQMP had consistently proposed measures aimed at addressing Pakistan’s governance problems.
He argued that creating new provinces could not be termed treason when the Constitution itself provided a mechanism for altering provincial boundaries. With Pakistan’s population having risen from around 25-30 million at independence to nearly 250 million, he said the country needed a corresponding expansion of its administrative structure.
“We have presented a formula for resolving Pakistan’s problems, and all political parties agree with it,” he said.
Siddiqui said the MQMP had joined the present government on the condition that the benefits of democracy should reach ordinary citizens. He said the party had supported the 18th Amendment in the hope that Article 140-A would ensure devolution of authority to the grassroots.
“This is not an organisational or political requirement of ours; it is a requirement of Pakistan,” he said, announcing that the party would again approach the Supreme Court over the non-implementation of Article 140-A.
Criticising the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Siddiqui said it was supporting an Article 140-A-related resolution in Punjab while restricting local-government empowerment in Sindh.
Federal Minister Mustafa Kamal said the demand for new administrative units was not directed against Sindhis, arguing that the existing governance structure had failed to address the problems of Karachi and other parts of Sindh.
He claimed that despite substantial federal transfers to the provinces and expenditure in Sindh, Karachi continued to face severe infrastructure and civic problems. “We need a system in which our rights are protected and our problems are resolved. I should have the authority to change my own ruler,” Kamal said.
He said the debate over new administrative units was gaining wider political acceptance and claimed that various political figures had previously supported the idea.
Dr Farooq Sattar said Pakistan’s stability was impossible without creating additional administrative units and warned that the existing system could fuel growing public frustration. “If the status quo is not ended, there will be a rebellion in the country,” he cautioned.
Calling Karachi Pakistan’s economic capital, Sattar claimed that the city generated a major share of Sindh’s economic activity and national exports. He said the MQMP’s proposal was aimed at administrative, financial and political devolution rather than division of Sindh. “The real enemy of Sindh is the feudal, the landlord and the practitioner of hereditary politics,” he said.
Sattar maintained that new administrative units in Larkana, Sukkur and Mirpurkhas would be administered by local populations and that Sindh’s resources would remain with its people.
Meanwhile, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Mustafa Kamal warned on Sunday that a constitutional amendment on the creation of new provinces would come without PM’s adviser on political and public affaris, Rana Sanaullah, even knowing about it.
Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Naya Pakistan’, Kamal — who is also federal minister for health and national services — noted that neither the 26th nor the 27th constitutional amendments had been discussed in the cabinet before they emerged. He said that Sanaullah should clarify whether those two amendments had come after cabinet discussions.
Kamal further said the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) should express its displeasure where the matter originated, adding that “those who will get it done will get this done too.”
Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah dismissed MQM-P’s press conference, saying Khalid Maqbool’s remarks made it clear he was under severe mental pressure. Shah said MQM-P’s self-styled leadership appeared angry and frustrated whenever it held press conferences, calling it a reflection of the party’s political isolation and helplessness.
He said MQM-P’s leadership was neither elected by the people of Karachi nor their true representative, adding that the people of Karachi had already rejected them. “Sindh will not be divided — but I can see MQM itself dividing,” he said, adding that the people of Karachi were with the PPP on the journey of love, peace and progress.
Shah said MQM-P was not talking about holding the province hostage but rather the people, trade, peace and prosperity of the city. He described Farooq Sattar as the “12th player” of the current MQM, which he said was no longer united.
Sindh Minister Saeed Ghani, in a video statement, said MQM-P should not spread hatred in Sindh out of spite against the PPP. He said if the people of Sindh wanted a new province, they were welcome to pursue it through constitutional means — but if the people of Sindh collectively said they did not need another province, no outsider could be allowed to make that decision for them.
Sindh government spokesperson Sadia Javed said MQM-P’s “province card” was the party’s last attempt at political bankruptcy, accusing Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui of misleading the public by telling only half the truth about the Constitution.
