PRIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif promised on Thursday the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) “big relief” in the upcoming budget, saying the federation was serious in resolving issues of Sindh, especially of urban areas, and soon there will be reduction in gas and power load-shedding in the province. In addition, the premier assured the party that the youth of urban Sindh would be given jobs on merit in the federal government and loans will also be provided to them for doing business under the Khushal Youth Programme.
There is no denying the fact that the MQM(P) represents urban Sindh and it has legitimate concerns about unmet demands of its voters and supporters despite being part of different setups in the past. The successive governments even entered into written agreements with the party vis-à-vis resolution of the problems of people of urban Sindh but these were not implemented in letter and spirit. The MQM(P) is part of the coalition now and it has taken a timely initiative of conveying its genuine demands to the authorities concerned before announcement of the budget and the Prime Minister is fully receptive as he promised a ‘big’ relief to mitigate woes of people of Karachi and Hyderabad. PM Shehbaz emphasized Karachi’s critical role as the country’s most important city and economic backbone, declaring that “solving the problems of this city is the first priority of the government”. In fact, the problems highlighted by a delegation of the MQM(P) during its meeting with the Prime Minister – unemployment, price-hike, load-shedding and hefty electricity and gas bills – are not limited to Sindh alone as these issues are being agitated by people of other provinces as well. Therefore, it is the responsibility of all coalition partners to give their input to help address these challenges to the satisfaction of the people.
