MQM-P presents a bill to strengthen NA’s municipal governments.
Introduced by MQM-P MNA Muhammad Javed Hanif, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (Article 140A) has been forwarded to the appropriate committee for additional consideration.
Information Minister at the federal level.The government has agreed to bring the bill to the committee and has no problems to it, according to Attaullah Tarar.
Together with his party colleague Syed Mustafa Kamal, Muhammad Javed Hanif outlined the main provisions of the bill and claimed that the devolution of powers will allow the populace to more effectively handle their problems locally.
Notably, the MQM-P had called on the government to change Article 140-A in addition to the 26th constitutional amendment. However, the party backed down from its demand on the guarantee of a delegation that visited the MQM-P headquarters in Karachi and was led by Federal Minister of Planning Ahsan Iqbal.
PM Shehbaz Sharif promised the MQM-P earlier last month that the party will have early talks with the parliamentary parties over the constitutional amendments they had proposed.
The sources added that when a MQM-P team, headed by Chairman Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, visited PM Shehbaz, they requested an early presentation of the party’s constitutional revisions that would “empower” local authorities throughout the nation.
Prior to introducing the constitutional modification in the parliament, the prime minister stated that the political parties will be consulted.
During the conference, the implementation of federal projects in Sindh and the allocation of funding to legislators to conduct development projects in their constituencies were discussed.
The MQM-P delegation, according to the sources, emphasized developing plans to weather the economic crisis and brought up the subject of Independent Power Procedures (IPPs) agreements.
Additionally, the MQM-P called for Karachi to be spared the burden of new taxes.