Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of mega projects in Karachi, Bilawal said, “The MQM-P should derail the government by ending its alliance with them…We will [PPP] support them fully.”
“For Karachi’s sake, all the ministries that the MQM-P has in the Centre, we will give them in Sindh. But the only condition is to send him [Imran Khan] back home,” he clarified.
MQM-P is an ally of the ruling PTI in the federal government, with its MNAs Farogh Naseem and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui holding the federal portfolios for law and information technology respectively.
Condemning the government’s gas policy, the PPP chairman said the people of Sindh were suffering due to suspension of gas supply, adding that, “We will have to snatch our share from the government.”
The scion of the Bhutto political dynasty also reacted to the government’s decision of excluding the non-deserving people from Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) in a bid to bring transparency and merit in the programme. He vowed to challenge the exclusion of the more than 800,000 people from the programme in a court of law.
“The entire nation is embroiled in a plethora of issues. The problems of the masses are escalating every day.”
According to Bilawal, Sindh was the only province where development could be seen. “Foreign publications
MQM is one of PTI's allies in the federal government and its MNAs Farogh Naseem and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui hold the federal ministries for law and information technology, respectively.
During his address today, Bilawal said if MQM breaks off its alliance with PTI and manages to get Sindh its share in resources, the provincial government will "stand by [MQM] for the sake of Karachi's people".
"Today or tomorrow, all the facilitators, all the allies [of PTI] will have to take this decision, will have to save Pakistan and end Naya Pakistan," Bilawal said.
When asked about Bilawal's comments, Karachi mayor and MQM leader Waseem Akhtar said: "Our party might sit and hold a discussion on this, what can be done in future. It's not about me."
Bilawal, in his speech today, also criticised the PTI government over the decision to remove 800,000 people from the Benazir Income Support Programme, saying that it was "cruel and unjust to snatch Rs1,000 from poor women in this economic situation".
He regretted that residents of shantytowns "were being made homeless" in extreme winter and urged the mayor of Karachi to halt any anti-encroachment drive that was underway in the city so that people will not be exposed to the cold weather.
He told a crowd of supporters that PPP had initiated several development projects in Karachi, which include the construction of two bridges and an underpass which, Bilawal said were "obviously very important for Karachi's communication network" and will help in improving the city's traffic woes. He said that Karachi's development was important for the entire country, not just the city's residents.
"PPP government is the only government in the country that is working and we can show that," he said but acknowledged that his party's efforts to provide health, education and other facilities to Sindh's people were not enough to "meet the demand".
He lamented that the federal government was not providing Sindh its rightful share in resources and funds, adding that the PPP cannot "compromise" on the province's rights.
"At the same time, we will have to think and come up with a way to expand the scope of our development. How can we work more with fewer funds," he said, adding that public-private partnership was one way to work on mega-development projects.
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