KARACHI: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday directed the formation of a committee to advance consultations on a proposed constitutional modification geared toward strengthening native governments and to deal with Muttahida Qaumi Motion-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) longstanding considerations over its lacking staff, with the social gathering expressing uncommon optimism after years of little motion on these key points.
Whereas MQM-P sees little likelihood for the proposed twenty eighth Constitutional Modification within the rapid future, the social gathering leaders imagine a broad political consensus is rising in favor of an empowered native authorities system, together with amongst opposition events.
The social gathering can also be inspired by the prime minister’s assurance that the protection and inside ministries might be engaged on the difficulty of lacking staff, describing it as essentially the most important progress on the matter in years.
An announcement issued by the MQM-P mentioned that the recent progress emerged throughout a gathering of the social gathering delegation with PM Shehbaz in Islamabad, the place a number of points starting from the rights of city Sindh to the proposed constitutional invoice got here underneath dialogue.
MQM-P delegation meets Shehbaz in Islamabad; urges him to pay higher consideration to city Sindh; requests him to think about appointment of social gathering governor in Sindh
The MQM-P delegation, led by social gathering chairman Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and together with federal minister Syed Mustafa Kamal and Dr Farooq Sattar, in addition to Syed Aminul Haque, met the PM “to debate key points regarding city Sindh and issues of public curiosity.”
“Throughout the assembly, the MQM-P delegation apprised the PM of a number of essential points, together with the restoration of lacking social gathering staff, a proposed constitutional invoice to empower native governments, the appointment of an MQM-P-nominated governor of Sindh and growth packages for city Sindh,” mentioned the assertion.
The delegation urged the federal authorities to take particular measures for the event of city Sindh, enchancment of infrastructure, provision of public providers and completion of ongoing growth initiatives.
The assertion mentioned that the PM assured the delegation of constructive steps to deal with the problems raised and directed the formation of a committee to make progress on the proposed native authorities laws and the matter of lacking staff.
‘Eight-member committee’
Dawn asked Amin ul Haque, who was part of the MQM-P delegation, how optimistic his party was after fresh assurances from the PM about providing constitutional cover for an empowered local government system, a cause for which the party has been struggling for many years; He said that this time the situation was far different from the past.
“The PM has issued directives for the constitution of the committee with four members from each side”, he said.
“More than a decade ago, it was only MQM-P that was arguing for implementation of Article 140-A of the Constitution in its true spirit. But right now, there is a consensus among most of the parties in the parliament, whether it is JUI-F, PML-Q or any other party.
“The committee will now build consensus and even meet the leaders of the opposition for that purpose. And I personally think that PTI, being an opposition party, would also have no objection to this particular issue,” he said.
On the issue of MQM-P’s missing workers, the party expressed optimism, saying the prime minister had directed the defense and interior ministries to engage with its concerns, raising hopes of tangible progress after years of little movement on the matter.
“The meeting was positive overall as both the prime minister’s body language and the exchange of views were encouraging,” said Haque.
“The significance of the engagement was underlined by the presence of a high-powered government delegation accompanying the prime minister, including Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, the prime minister’s adviser on political affairs Rana Sanaullah and other senior officials”, he added.
Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2026
