MQM-P rejoins federal cabinet after PTI agrees to grant Karachi-based party two ministries: report

KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) on Sunday announced it would rejoin the federal cabinet after showing satisfaction with the efforts of the ruling PTI to fulfill key demands that were made by the former earlier this year, reported The News.

As part of the deal under which MQM-P will rejoin the government, two senior leaders of the party, Syed Aminul Haque and Faisal Sabzwari, will reportedly be given ministerial portfolios. 

However, the party insists it rejoined the federal cabinet to support efforts to combat the coronavirus. 

On Sunday, Governor Sindh Imran Ismail met with MQM-P leaders at the party’s temporary secretariat in Bahadurabad, where the party decided to rejoin the federal cabinet. PTI's Firdous Shamin Naqvi, Khurram Sherzaman and Haleem Adil Shaikh accompanied Ismail to the meeting. 

Also read: MQM-P rejects PML-N demand for fresh polls

According to The News, the MQM-P leadership also met Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Reforms Asad Umar, who has been tasked by Prime Minister Imran Khan to convince the MQM-P to return to the federal cabinet. 

The PTI-led federal government has also agreed to a key MQM-P demand to give the party another ministry, because the latter believes Farogh Naseem, Minister for Law and Justice, has been working solely on behalf of the federal government. 

However, after the acceptance of the demand, the party has decided to bring in new faces in the federal cabinet. A MQM-P leader told The News that the party’s convener, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqi, who has resigned from the federal cabinet earlier, will solely focus on the party’s affairs. 

Also read: MQM-P slams PPP, says Sindh's urban centres suffering from ‘economic terrorism’

Haque, an MNA from Orangi Town, and Sabzwari, a former MPA, will represent the party in the federal cabinet. After the final decision to rejoin the cabinet had been made, MQM-P Convener Siddiqui told the media that both parties still have to take decisions on many issues. 

“We are rejoining the federal government at a critical time when the government, along with its citizens, has been fighting against the spread of coronavirus,” he said. “Prime Minister Imran Khan wants that every political party should become his arm in the fight against the pandemic.” 

He also said that the partnership between the MQM-P and the PTI will be remembered as a memorable time for Sindh's urban areas. Governor Ismail, while talking to reporters alongside Siddiqui, said that the federal government had allocated a Rs7bn development budget for the city. 

Originally published in The News