Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui favours division of provinces

• "Only Pakistan is the motherland," Dr Siddiqui says.
• Denial of new provinces implies hypocrisy, he says.
• Politician slams PPP, says it doesn't represent Karachi residents.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui spoke in favour of establishing new provinces, stating that considering the establishment of new provinces as treason implies hypocrisy, as provinces are administrative units and not inseparable parts of the country.

The politician's comments came while talking to journalists following an event in Liaquatabad commemorating the death anniversary of Shuhada-e-Urdu.

Dr Siddiqui said only Pakistan should be considered the true motherland, emphasising that provinces are solely administrative units, and their numbers should be increased in line with growth in population and national requirements.

"Only Pakistan is the motherland," he said.

The MQM-P leader highlighted that creation of new provinces aligns with the responsibilities of citizens towards their nation and reflects a spirit of patriotism.

Criticising the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), he said all the powers and resources of Karachi had been with a political party for the past 15 years that never had the genuine mandate of the residents of the city for 50 years.

“This political party doesn’t represent the people of Karachi. The same party doesn’t have any authority over the city no matter the new mayor belongs to it,” said the MQM-P chief without explicitly naming the PPP.

He added that the Jamaat-e-Islami and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf should be questioned about their decision to contest the recent local government elections in the city even after the unfair delimitations of some 100 of its union committees.

A day earlier, on Saturday, MQM-P Senior Deputy Convener Syed Mustafa Kamal also made similar remarks about the need for new provinces in the country.

Speaking to media persons, he welcomed the suggestion recently put forward by Senate Deputy Chairman Mirza Muhammad Afridi and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to form new provinces in the country.

The prosperity and longevity of Pakistan could be achieved by forming new provinces, he remarked.

“It is high time that the suggestion given by the Senate deputy chairman and other political leaders to form new provinces in the country should be considered seriously as this option also provides the ultimate solution to the problems in urban Sindh,” said Kamal.

He said the water supply, sewerage and road infrastructure in the urban parts of Sindh had been in a shambles due to sheer neglect by the Sindh government of the PPP.

The MQM-P leader said the youth of urban Sindh had been going through agony due to the biased conduct of the ruling PPP. He said the job seekers from urban Sindh were deprived of government jobs both on merit and the quota reserved for them.

He alleged that the quota in government jobs reserved for candidates from urban Sindh was filled by recruiting non-native applicants. This unfair trend in the recruitment drive had lately been extended to the civic and municipal agencies of Karachi whose vacancies were being filled by hiring non-natives while the local candidates were deprived of these jobs, Kamal added.

The MQM-P leader remarked that such biased policies of the ruling PPP had harmed the interests of entire Pakistan as they had weakened the very foundations of the country.

He maintained that the residents of Sindh could no longer afford the rule of anti-state and biased PPP. He further alleged that the entire Sindh had been ruined due to the absolute rule of the PPP in the province for more than a decade.