MQM-P’s Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui resigns as Minister for Information Technology

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (Pakistan) leader Khalid Maqbool Siddiqi on Sunday has announced his resignation from the post as Ministry for Information Technology.

The decision was made as the federal government failed to resolve problems being faced by Karachi.

He also maintained that the decision to leave the cabinet has nothing to do with PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto’s proposal of joining the Sindh government.

Speaking at the press conference, he said, “I am resigning as a federal minister and holding a ministry serves no purpose if issues of Karachi are not resolved.”

MQM-P leader said Karachi provides revenue of billions of rupees but it has been deprived of funds for resolving its issues.

“We had supported [PTI] in forming the government. We held up our end of the deal but not even one point of our demands has seen any progress in these 16, 17 months”.

“At this point, it becomes difficult for me to remain in the government, that I [continue to] hold a minister’s position, and people in Sindh continue to face the conditions they did before we joined the [federal] government.”

“We have fulfilled our promise and intend to fulfill our promise,” he said.

He further explained his disappointments with the ruling party, saying that “the party had neither proposed the name of Senator Farogh Naseem for the cabinet nor asked for the law ministry.”

“We signed two agreements with the PTI: one in Banigala and another in Bahadurabad on some conditions,” he said.

He stated, “Our decision to leave the cabinet has nothing to do with PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto’s proposal of joining the Sindh government.”

“The lack of seriousness on these matters left us no choice,” he said.

He also told that the decision of resigning from the federal cabinet was decided in the party’s Rabita Committee (Coordination Committee) meeting held on Friday. After having a detailed discussion they had concluded that it was useless for him to hold the IT minister’s position.