Holding a census prematurely seemed an impossible task but the struggle of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) for ensuring the correct headcount made it possible.MQM-P Convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said this on Sunday while addressing a general workers meeting of the party. He said the project Imran Khan had failed and the few leaders of the party who courted arrest in their so-called Jail Bharo Tehreek immediately started shedding tears.
“The state has to be compassionate towards those whose history is full of sacrifices,” said Dr Siddiqui. He added that around two hundred MQM-P workers were missing at present. The country would not get stable unless every Pakistani was equally treated, he said, adding that the only formula to unite the country was ensuring justice.
The party convener stated that the MQM-P had started a new journey in 2023 and the party would show its political strength at a public meeting in Bagh-e-Jinnah on March 19. The most important phase of census was under way, he said as he directed the MQM-P workers to actively participate in the exercise and ensure that every resident of the city had been counted.He explained that the MQM-P had boycotted the local government elections as they were based on flawed delimitations that happened as a result of flawed census results. He claimed that the MQM-P was a party of descendants of the founders of Pakistan. “Those who made the country know how the country is run,” he added.He reminded Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that he also owed his premiership to the people of Karachi and he should come to the city to assure its people that no injustice would be done to them.
The party’s senior deputy convener Dr Farooq Sattar said 2023 would be the year of MQM-P’s comeback. He remarked that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was not a political party but a fan club or something like a circus. He maintained that the general workers meeting were a small trailer.
The MQM-P was a ray of hope for the people of Karachi, Dr Sattar remarked, adding that as Karachi progressed so did Pakistan. He was of the view that a dialogue was needed to get the country out of itr political and economic crisis.“On the demand of the MQM-Pakistan, an early census is being conducted for the first time,” he said as he asked all the political parties to support the MQM-P’s stance. Another senior deputy convener of the party, Syed Mustafa Kamal, said that despite giving revenue to the entire country, Karachi was deprived of basic facilities. “Today our 40-year-old problems are multiplying and they need to be resolved.
We want to free our future generations from all these problems and give them a bright Karachi, Sindh and Pakistan,” he said.Kamal, who recently joined the MQM-P after the merger of the Pak Sarzameen Party with it, said the inhabitants of Karachi are desperate and in trouble. He called for character-building of the people, stating that many people in high positions had no character.He lamented that even today, there were many people in the government institutions of Karachi who were not loyal to their position. “We will give rights to the people in our lives, and no one needs to be disappointed,” he said.
He was of the view that it was Karachi only that could control inflation for the country and bring down the rates of dollar and fuel. He claimed that in the general elections, the MQM-P would generate one breaking news after the other.
Imran Khan destroyed the country in his four-year rule, Kamal said. He added that there was a separate law in Pakistan for Punjab. Other MQM-P leaders such as Nasreen Jalil, Anis Kaimkhani and Abdul Waseem were also present on the occasion.
