KARACHI: Prime Minister Imran Khan in a meeting with key coalition partner Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s leaders has vowed that all their concerns would be addressed, raising hopes for a special announcement from the Centre for the country’s business capital, officials and political sources said on Friday.

PM Khan landed at the old terminal of the Quaid-i-Azam International Airport on Friday evening after wrapping up a daylong visit of Balochistan. He was welcomed by Sindh Governor Imran Ismail at the airport.

At Governor House, the prime minister held a meeting with an MQM-P delegation and attended a dinner of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf legislators with senior members of his cabinet, including Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Finance Minister Asad Umar.

The MQM delegation was led by senior party leader and Federal Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui.

During the meeting both sides agreed that “a mechanism would be evolved” to look into implementation of terms the two sides had agreed at, at the formation of their coalition government in the Centre last year.

A senior MQM-P leader, who was part of the delegation, described the meeting as “positive” and expressed the hope that the sitting would lead to a positive outcome for the people of Karachi and urban Sindh.

“The prime minister was quite appreciative of the understanding and terms of the two sides as coalition partners,” Faisal Subzwari of the MQM-P told Dawn.

“We suggested that the two sides should evolve a mechanism to look into the progress and implementation of the terms which we have agreed upon. The prime minister has agreed on that and we expect positive development in this area. Regarding Karachi we again sought support from the Centre like it has extended to the people of [erstwhile] Fata recently. Again Mr Khan was affirmative of that as well and we expect a kind initiative on these lines in tomorrow’s [Saturday’s] meeting regarding Karachi’s development projects.”

Karachi committee’s meeting

Mr Subzwari’s assessment echoed in a statement issued by Governor House earlier in the day regarding a meeting of the Karachi Transformation Committee’s Core Group held at Governor House hours before the prime minister’s arrival.

It said that Governor Ismail appreciated the measures being taken by the authorities concerned to put Karachi on the list of beautiful cities of the world.

“Presiding over a meeting of Karachi Transformation Committee’s Core Group at Governor House, the governor ordered completion of federal government-funded development projects in the city by September,” said the statement.

“The participants in the meeting reiterated timely completion of the Green Line Project for the betterment of mass transit system. The governor directed the officials to prepare a comprehensive briefing for Prime Minister Imran Khan during his current visit to Karachi.”

PTI lawmakers meet PM

Meanwhile, the prime minister attended a dinner reception hosted by Governor Ismail for PTI parliamentarians at Governor House.

Speaking to PTI members of National and Sindh Assemblies, the prime minister said that as the federal government was providing resources for various development projects in Sindh, it would also introduce poverty alleviation programmes ‘Ehsaas’ and ‘Sehat Insaf’ in the province.

“The present government inherited severe economic challenges, but now the situation is heading towards improvement,” the prime minister said.

He said that the government was bringing about reforms in every sector so that people got facilities, said a statement issued after the meeting.

The prime minister urged the PTI lawmakers to increase their contacts with people in their respective constituencies.

The welfare of masses especially the provision of health and education facilities should be their priority, the PM directed the lawmakers.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2019