PPP, MQM-P to unanimously agree to adopt LG law for serving Sindh

• PPP, MQM-P agree to adopt LG law, which would benefit urban and rural residents. 
• Parties held joint press conference at MQM-P's Bahadurabad head office.
• Nasir Shah reiterates call to overcome prevailing water crisis.

KARACHI: The PPP and MQM-P on Thursday agreed to work together for adopting local government law that would benefit the residents of urban and rural parts of the province.

The parties made the announcement in a joint press conference at the MQM-P's head office in Bahadurabad. 

While talking to journalists, the leaders of the two parties said that both the PPP and MQM-P had to work together for the sake of Sindh and the rest of the country and said that the parties had agreed to continue with their talks to further amend the provincial local government law.

They said the two parties had held talks in a cordial and pleasant manner as the meeting discussed in detail issues related to local government law and the prevailing water crisis in Sindh, particularly in Karachi.

The MQM-P leaders said on the occasion that the coordination committee of the party would make the final decision whether to join the Sindh government after the accord signed by them with the PPP before the change of government was implemented while amendments were also incorporated into the local government law.

MQM-P leader, Kanwar Naveed Jameel, said the meeting between the two parties had been held as part of the ongoing negotiations after MQM-P and PPP had signed the accord. He said that such meetings had been held in the past also and would continue to be held in the future as well.

He said the latest meeting had considered the suggestions earlier given by his party to improve the local government law.

"Another round of talks had to be held between the two parties before finalising the amendments to the provincial LG law for presenting the same before Sindh Assembly for adoption," added Jameel. 

The MQM-P leader added that both the parties had the unanimous view that such legislation should be adopted, which proved beneficial not just for the residents of Karachi, and Hyderabad but also for the rural parts of the province.

Answering a question, Jameel said that before making any decision to join the Sindh government as a coalition partner, their preference was that an accord between MQM and PPP was implemented while amendments were also made to the local government law.

Sindh local government minister said the Sindh government would amend the provincial law in view of the directives of the Supreme Court and suggestions given by the MQM-P and other concerned political parties for the same cause.

The minister said the Sindh government had been holding talks with all the concerned political parties to improve the local government law. He said the negotiations also took into consideration the delimitation of the constituencies for the local government laws, development projects in urban parts of Sindh, setting up a university in Hyderabad, and a women's university in the province.

He said the meeting also took into consideration water issues of Karachi and initiatives launched to overcome this problem including the K-IV project as the Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah himself had chaired meetings to ensure that there should be equitable water distribution in the province.

The local government minister reiterated to overcome the prevailing water crisis in Karachi by introducing a fair mechanism to ensure uninterrupted water supply for residents of the city.

He said Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had shown big-heartedness for the development of both urban and rural areas of the province in the larger interest of Sindh.

To a question, he said that they honoured the people who had laid down their lives on the tragic day of May 12, 2007, in Karachi as MQM-P also shared the same grief and sorrow.

The PPP was represented in the negotiations by Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Shah, Labour Minister Saeed Ghani while MQM’s leaders Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Amir Khan, Waseem Akhtar, Kanwar Naveed Jameel, Javed Hanif, and Khawaja Izharul Hassan were also present on the occasion.