PML-N reaches out to MQM-P to discuss ‘new governance model’
Statesman Report
KARACHI: Pseudo-democracy could not resolve the country’s challenges, leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Mutttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) said on Thursday.
The PML-N delegation — comprising former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ahsan Iqbal, Miftah Ismail, Marriyum Aurangzeb, and Musadik Malik — was in the port city to meet the ruling PTI government’s coalition partner, the MQM-P, with an aim to strengthen democracy.
“Pseudo democracy cannot solve Pakistanis issues,” MQM-P Convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said, while addressing the press conference. “Real democracy is the only resolve for the country’s problems.
“We should envision such a democracy where farmers, labourers represent their peers and where common people are lawmakers, who not only know but have also faced a command man’s problems.
“After today’s positive meeting I believe that we are ready for a strong democracy,” he added.
Addressing reporters, Abbasi said the meeting aimed to strengthen democracy. It “was not with a coalition partner of the government but with our political colleagues who have been with us for 32 years now.
“We discussed the ongoing political situation in the country and put forward our [PML-N’s] concerns regarding the threats that democracy and economy face and how can we, together, solve these issues.
“I am glad to share with you that we found consensus in our thoughts,” he said. “Pakistan’s problems can only be solved through democracy and this has always been our stance, we don’t just talk about elections.”
The PML-N leader added that the stakeholders should revive the system and come up with “new ways to solve the country’s issues”.
In response to a question on what condition the public would be in should the incumbent government complete its tenure, Abbasi laughed, saying he could not provide a proper answer while standing beside the Khan administration’s coalition partner.
“What I can say, however, is that I pray that this government completes its tenure so it may expose them to the people and the damages they have done to the country,” he noted.
“But if I give my opinion as a Pakistani, I believe each second of this government is a burden on the country. They have failed to deliver and the economy is sinking,” he lamented. “I couldn’t imagine that a political party could damage the country’s economy as they [PTI] have done.”
The former PM reiterated that there was an urgent need to form a new government in Pakistan.
Refuting a reporter’s question that the PML-N did not deliver in Karachi, he said: “It is on record that our government released a lot of funds for provinces and supported them. You will not find an example like that.
“There has been no deal with anyone,” he said, while referring to the PML-N leaders being released on bail. “We always talk about the country’s problems.