PTI's coalition partners complain of being kept in the dark about important decisions

• Kamil Ali Agha, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui criticise govt. 
• "It is the PTI's manufacturing fault that they do not consult us ever," says Kamil Ali Agha. 
• We had some important questions relating to EVMS but we never got the answers, says Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui. 

PTI allies PML-Q and MQM-P have expressed their concerns over the new legislation proposed by the ruling party and complained of being kept in the dark over important decisions.

The differences among the coalition partners emerged when the government postponed the joint sitting of the Parliament due to a lack of consensus over the bills to be placed for passage.

Speaking to Geo News on Friday, Senior PML-Q leader Kamil Ali Agha Friday said that he had been expressing his party's reservations with the PTI-led government for the past three years. 

"Both parties had agreed that we would hold consultations on day-to-day problems and also, PML-Q's input on policymaking was deemed compulsory," he said. 

"However, it is a manufacturing fault of the PTI that they do not consult us ever," he added. 

Agha said that whenever the PTI needs the PML-Q for its purposes, it holds consultations with the party. "Take for instance, when they needed votes for the budget, they consulted us," he lamented, adding that afterwards, the party becomes "aloof". 

The PML-Q leader expressed doubts about whether or not the PTI holds consultations within the party or not. "Most of their leaders also complain that they are not taken on board," he disclosed.

When asked whether the PML-Q will take any extreme measure against the government if the ruling party continues to ignore it on important issues, he said the PML-Q's was known for keeping its word. 

"One of the best qualities of our leadership is that they stand by their commitment," he said. "However, our legislators of the National Assembly and the Punjab Assembly are now complaining frequently about these reservations.

When asked whether the PML-Q was under pressure due to the PTI-led government's performance, Agha replied in the positive. 

"Shahzeb Khanzada [Geo News anhorperson], there is a lot of pressure from the voters on our legislators," he said. 

Agha said that problems such as unemployment, inflation and other issues were making life difficult for the masses. "If we are unable to solve these issues, how will we contest the next elections? How will we face the public?"

He said if the government starts taking the PML-Q into confidence on important matters even now, then there was ample time to solve people's problems. 

"Two years is not a small time," he said. "If they start consulting us, we can still solve the common man's problems."

However, he said, "if the government does not mend its ways we will have to take an ultimate decision."

Sharing his reservations on the current political situation, MQM-Pakistan chief Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said his party had conveyed the problems of the masses several times to the PTI government. 

He revealed that the party was not briefed on the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), adding that "we got to know about it through the media."

"We had some important questions related to it but we never got the answers. So we told them that we have a lot of questions and as it turned out, other coalition partners were also not taken into confidence," he added. 

Siddiqui said one of the questions that his party has about the EVMs is that how will the machines guarantee transparent elections. He said the MQM had also asked the government to test the machines through a process. 

"We asked the government to seek the Engineering Council's opinion on it," he revealed. "We also asked it to test it in an election [before using it]."

Siddiqui said that MQM-Pakistan had been told that those who will handle the machines will not manipulate the results. "We were given the guarantee that this will not happen, but how it will not happen, that we haven't been told," he said. 

He said the party was also curious as to how the government will manufacture so many EVMs when it did not have the time to do so. 

Siddiqui said that if the government did not take serious decisions then coalition partners will continue to remain anxious. "Despite three years passing, we haven't seen the effects of change," he said. 

However, Siddiqui said his party does not doubt the prime minister's intentions. He said the party expected the prime minister to demonstrate seriousness in his decisions. 

He said the economic indicators were pointing out that no serious or concrete action over the past couple of years had been taken by the government.