Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, leading a delegation of MQM Pakistan, met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to discuss the budget for the next financial year and the development projects of urban Sindh.

Federal Minister for Health Syed Mustafa Kamal, Dr. Farooq Sattar, Javed Hanif, and Syed Aminul Haq were also a part of the delegation. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Sanaullah, and Azam Nazir Tarar were in attendance.

During the meeting, the delegation demanded the allocation of PKR 25 billion and PKR 10 billion in the budget for the urban development package in Karachi and Hyderabad, respectively. They also requested the Prime Minister to announce special development packages for Mirpurkhas, Nawabshah, and Sukkur. MQM further urged the inclusion of funds for Karachi’s K-4 water project and Green Line bus service in the new budget. In addition, they suggested an increase in the annual income tax exemption limit for salaried individuals from PKR 600,000 to PKR 1,500,000 to provide them relief.

Given the importance of the development of Karachi and urban Sindh, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif assured the MQM delegation of implementing these suggestions and demands to the possible extent.

In the fiscal year 2024-25, PKR 15 billion for Karachi and PKR 5 billion for Hyderabad were approved. A year later, MQM painstakingly managed to submit the development schemes to the relevant department. Thus, the federal special package fund could not be utilized for a whole year in Karachi. Once again, MQM has met with the prime minister, and big claims are being made for the budget of the new fiscal year. Will these words finally reach the finish line? Or, as always, remain claims that are left hanging in the middle?