Election 2024: MQM-P unveils manifesto, proposes key 'constitutional amendments'

• Constitutional amendments ‘inevitable’ to strengthen democracy:  Siddiqui.
• MQM-P vows constitutional protection for local govts in manifesto.
• "Just taxation system must be introduced to treat rich, poor equally."

KARACHI: As the election heat is on, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has kicked off its electioneering ahead of the general elections and announced its manifesto with ‘three constitutional amendments’ as key components.

The party's top leaders held a press conference in Karachi to announce the manifesto as the Karachi-based party pulled up socks for contesting the February 8 general polls.

Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, the party convener, expressed his views that the nation had not received constitutional protection for the past 50 years. It is inevitable to make some amendments to the Constitution to strengthen the country through empowering the common man, he added.

Emphasising necessary amends to the existing laws, Dr Siddiqui announced that his political party proposed three constitutional amendments to give legal cover to municipal, city and district-level governments.

The politico sought full legal protection for all local governments by mentioning those institutions under its power in the Constitution. The MQM-P, he further said, won’t accept a powerless democracy in the country anymore.

He went on to say that his party presented its political and electoral manifesto, suggesting a solution to all political and economic crises by strengthening true democracy in the country.

Dr Farooq Sattar, another senior deputy convener who headed one of the MQM factions before their recent merger, announced that a draft bill had been proposed for all state institutions.

He stressed that a just taxation system must be introduced in the country in which the rich and the poor pay equal taxes. He also vowed to launch a new project for eliminating the scarcity of water in Karachi which would be completed in four years.

Senior deputy convener Mustafa Kamal said that the MQM-P’s manifesto was not just a bunch of documents highlighting the country’s core issues but giving a practical solution.