PPP, MQM-P spar over treatment of Karachiites

• Siddiqui laments PPP for "threatening tone" toward Karachi traders. 
• Murtaza Wahab says claims made by MQM-P leader “bundle of lies”.
• Memon says MQM-P criticised PPP to revive its dead politics.
  

Allies in the Centre but fierce rivals in Sindh, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) once again traded barbs after the latter leveled fresh allegations against the ruling party's leadership.  

Karachi Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab, who also serves as a spokesperson for PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, dismissed the claims made by MQM-P leaders Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Mustafa Kamal, terming them a “bundle of lies”, The News reported.

Siddiqui, who is a federal minister, had slammed PPP Chairman Bilawal for adopting a "threatening tone" towards Karachi's businessmen at a recent event.

While addressing the luncheon hosted by the Sindh government for traders earlier this week, PPP Chairman Bilawal had asked the business community to approach him directly for their grievances rather than "complaining elsewhere".

The remark was an apparent expression of displeasure over a trader's humorous demand of swapping Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah with his Punjab counterpart Maryam Nawaz.

Trade leader Atiq Mir had asked Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal to switch CM Murad for Maryam, and later clarified that the statement was made in jest rather than as a serious proposal.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday flanked by Kamal, the MQM-P convener said that his party had wrongly assumed that Karachi’s businessmen had been invited to the reception — hosted by PPP — to apologise to them for the persisting shortcomings on behalf of the provincial rulers and to announce remedial measures to undo the injustices against them.

Siddiqui lamented that the business fraternity whose members played a key role in running the affairs of the country had been addressed in a virtually threatening way at the recepti in total disregard for their services and contribution to managing the Sindh province. 

He said the tone had been adopted by the provincial rulers despite having no contribution to generating the resources required to run the province. The MQM-P leader alleged that the same rulers had unjustly usurped all resources of the province under an oppressive imperialist system.

He further alleged that Karachi’s businessmen had to pay extortion money to corrupt authorities under the government’s patronage. He said the businessmen had been asked at the reception why they had gone to the influential quarters to lodge their complaints.

Siddiqui said the provincial rulers should be held answerable for the recent act of Chinese businessmen moving the court. He mentioned that the MQM-P, charities concerned, and civil society members in the past had used legal and constitutional ways of lodging their protest against injustices being done to the residents of Sindh. He said the businessmen concerned had just followed suit.

Responding to the allegation, Karachi Mayor Wahab accused MQM-P of fabricating claims against the PPP and said their frustration stemmed from internal conflicts within the party.

“Perhaps MQM [-P] has forgotten that they pioneered extortion culture, gutka, mawa, and other heinous activities in this city. The people of Karachi know exactly who created an atmosphere of fear and bloodshed here,” he said.

He said MQM-P leaders were haunted by their past whenever they witnessed the Sindh government’s development projects under the PPP. 

“MQM-P’s history is filled with gunny-bag murders and extortion. They cannot tolerate Karachi’s progress. Every time we inaugurate a major development project, they inexplicably grow anxious. Their worries will only increase as the PPP-led Sindh government continues expanding Karachi’s development network,” he added.

The mayor reaffirmed the PPP’s commitment to Karachi’s progress. “No matter how many obstacles they try to create, we remain determined to restore Karachi’s vibrancy. Under Bilawal’s vision, the Sindh government is working tirelessly and will continue to do so,” he stated.

He also lashed out at MQM-P leaders, calling them “political orphans” rejected by the people of Karachi.

“They know Bilawal Bhutto Zardari represents Pakistan’s bright future. His leadership has permanently buried the politics of violence in Karachi. The business community and the people of Sindh firmly stand with Bilawal, and the day is not far when Pakistan elects him as Prime Minister,” Wahab said.

Meanwhile, Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon also reacted to Siddiqui's statement, saying that the MQM criticised the PPP to revive its dead politics. He said that for the people of Karachi, the MQM-P had become a nightmare of the past.

According to him, the MQM-P criticised the PPP only to provoke a response, hoping to increase its political stature.

In his statement, Memon said the PPP did not take any statement from any MQM-P leader seriously. He said the luncheon held in honour of Karachi's traders was a successful gathering and its purpose was to identify and resolve the issues being faced by traders and to work with them to put Pakistan on the path of development.

The information minister said the traders expressed full confidence in the PPP chairman and thanked him for ensuring that they no longer received extortion slips or found bodies in sacks. He added that traders were no longer forced to give up animal hides, nor did they face frequent strike calls.

He said the top priority of the PPP and Sindh government was to make Sindh as well as the entire country prosperous and developed.