The PTI government’s coalition partners expressed their reservations and complaints to Prime Minister Imran Khan at a luncheon he hosted on Thursday.
A private TV channel reported that the coalition parties – including the PML-F, MQM-P and the GDA – were relentless in pushing their complaints and the premier eventually had to make concessions and agree to address their grievances in the near term. The TV channel reported that the allies expressed reservations over non-provision of development funds and the lack of development projects in their constituencies. They also reportedly protested against the unresolved issues of the people of their constituencies.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), a key member of the ruling alliance, even skipped the luncheon event after initially accepting the invitation. “The party leadership decided to skip the event in protest after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government failed to address its concerns,” reports quoted PML-Q leader and minister for housing and works as saying. “There’s no point in attending [the luncheon] if the prime minister does not deem his ally as important,” said Cheema, according to reports. “Whenever the government needed [us], we voted [to support their introduced bills] more than the government’s [own] people,” said the minister, claiming that the PTI ministers who came to invite them had also acknowledged that PML-Q was ‘not being treated fairly’.
Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Dr Fehmida Mirza reportedly regretted that neither the federal government nor the Sindh government had undertaken any mega projects or development works in Sindh. “The people of Sindh are being treated like stepchildren,” Dr Mirza complained, urging PM Imran Khan to pay attention to their problems. “It is inappropriate to ignore elected parliamentarians in the federal government’s plans,” she added, highlighting her concerns regarding Sindh’s issues and the injustices of the PPP-led provincial setup.
According to reports, the PML-F also expressed reservations over the neglect felt by the people of Sindh. “We are your allies, but the government does nothing to prove it,” Pir Pagara was said to have complained.
The MQM-P and the GDA also opened up about their views regarding the Government of Sindh, noting that the PPP had control of each department of the province. The coalition members further alleged that the bureaucracy of Sindh was running federal projects according to the PPP’s own whims and wishes.
The MQM-P, while expressing reservations regarding the implementation of the Karachi Transformation Plan (KTP), demanded that the promises made to the southern port city be fulfilled. “Work on the KTP has been extremely slow,” representatives of the Karachi-based party remarked, adding that the people of Karachi are being affected due to the Sindh government’s non-cooperation.
Among those attending the luncheon were Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, Planning Minister Asad Umar and Usman Buzdar, Jam Kamal Khan, and Mahmood Khan, the respective chief ministers of Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Kamal spoke on the government’s performance and issues in Balochistan, complaining about the non-fulfillment of the federal government’ promises. Umar, the reports added, gave the guests a briefing on Pakistan’s economy and reforms. Following the protests and reservations put forth by members of the allies, the prime minister said he had heard the concerns and that coalition parties would ‘see implementation soon’. “All the promises we made to the allies will be fulfilled,” he added. “We are all united to make Pakistan better.”
