Daily Times

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) on Thursday held another round of talks and discussed the issues being faced by the port city.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Planning Minister Asad Umar regretted that the country’s largest city has been ignored for years. Stressing that the city has an important role in the country’s economic growth, he said Karachi is entitled to mega uplift schemes. He rejected the impression of confusion surrounding talks between the government and its ally, saying the two parties hold the mandate of the city and want to resolve its issues. He also rejected reports that the MQM-P is reluctant to rejoin the cabinet because it wants more ministries.

MQM-P Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said Karachi yields 65 per cent of the country’s total revenue and makes up for 95 per cent of the province’s revenue yet it has been deprived of funds. He said the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) should have the administrative control of the city.

In Islamabad, PTI dialogue committees constituted by the government held a joint meeting and decided to remove reservations and honour pledges made with the allies. The committees discussed demands of the government allies and decided to formally approach them in a bid to improve the working relations.

In Lahore, PML-Q President Ch Shujaat Hussain advised Prime Minister Imran Khan to trust allies and stay away from trouble makers.

Talking to reporters prior to leaving for Umrah, he said the trouble makers have been doing the politics of hatred and chaos in every tenure. “We have entered into alliance with Imran Khan without any greed and in the interest of the nation and the country and are sticking to it and will remain so,” he said.

PTI senior leader Jahangir Tareen is scheduled to call on Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday to discuss issues pertaining to coordination with the coalition partners. The prime minister will also meet top party leadership and issues regarding agriculture, overall political scenario and party matters will come under discussion.