PPP hits back as MQM-P issues 'final warning' over unfulfilled 2022 pact

• Farooq Sattar urges PM Shehbaz, Bilawal and President Zardari to implement 18-point 2022 agreement

• MQM-P says Centre, as guarantor of accord, must ensure commitments are honoured

• Party warns of province-wide protest movement if longstanding demands remain unmet

• Sattar calls for action on local government reforms, quota system and fake domicile issues

• Sharjeel Memon rejects allegations, accuses MQM-P of resorting to 'political blackmailing'

• PPP minister says Karachi's mandate cannot be altered through threats or federal intervention

 KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) on Saturday issued what it described as a "final warning" to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leadership and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, demanding immediate implementation of the 18-point PPP-MQM-P agreement signed in 2022 and warning that it would be compelled to launch a protest movement if the commitments remained unfulfilled.

Addressing a press conference in Karachi, MQM-P leader Dr Farooq Sattar said the party's "SOS call" was directed not only at PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and President Asif Ali Zardari but also at Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whom he described as the "guarantor" of the agreement.

Referring to the accord as the "last agreement between MQM-P and PPP," Sattar reiterated that the party was issuing a "final warning" to the federal government and the prime minister to ensure implementation of the agreement.

He stressed that MQM-P had neither sought to join the Sindh government nor demanded control over the province's resources.

On March 30, 2022, the MQM-P and PPP signed an 18-point agreement shortly before joining other political parties to oust PTI founder Imran Khan through a vote of no confidence. The agreement covered a wide range of issues, including the local government structure, future power-sharing arrangements, recruitment policy in Sindh and the local policing system.

Sattar claimed that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had held no meeting with MQM-P despite repeated reminders regarding implementation of the agreement, including compliance with a Supreme Court order on local governments within one month.

“This was not implemented. This entire agreement was not implemented. This has around 18 points, out of which not even one was implemented,” he asserted.

Highlighting that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, then president of the PML-N, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Akhtar Mengal and Khalid Hussain Magsi had signed the agreement as witnesses, Sattar urged the Centre to play its role.

“You (Bilawal) have a direct signature on our rights and the solution of our problems, but the witness of this nikah, this relationship, is Mian Shehbaz Sharif, so he and the federal government — I am not using the word intervention — would have to get involved,” he said.

“These 18 points would have to be implemented; otherwise, the question remains of when and how MQM-P issues a protest call,” he added, saying the prime minister must fulfil his responsibility as guarantor of the agreement.

Sattar warned that if the commitments remained unmet, MQM-P would launch such a protest movement that "no one will be able to bring back MQM-P, the people of Karachi and those residing in other cities of Sindh."

He urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to visit Karachi and resolve the matter before "public deprivation, injustice and lack of attention and confidence cross all limits and they take to the streets."

Sattar said the party had already begun consultations with the public regarding a protest movement and advised the Centre not to intervene later to stop it.

At one point during the press conference, he said his appeal was directed less at Bilawal and more at the federal government to fulfil what he described as its constitutional responsibilities.

The MQM-P leader also called for a referendum under Article 149 of the Constitution, which allows the federal government to issue directives to provinces in certain circumstances.

Calling for the abolition of the quota system for government jobs, Sattar said even the agreed 60:40 rural-urban Sindh recruitment ratio under the pact had not been implemented.

He further claimed that the proposed joint commission on fake domiciles had yet to be constituted, adding that President Asif Ali Zardari, or Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif if necessary, should intervene if Bilawal failed to implement the agreement.

 Sharjeel Memon rejects MQM-P allegations

Responding to the MQM-P leader's remarks, Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon accused the party of resorting to "political blackmailing," saying the mandate of the people of Sindh, the 1973 Constitution and the province itself could not become targets whenever a political party found its politics weakening.

According to a statement issued on X by the Sindh Information Department, Memon said the people of Sindh had given the PPP a clear democratic mandate that could not be altered through "press conferences, threats or political blackmailing."

“If MQM-P wants a bigger share in power, the path lies through the public's vote. Power cannot be gained through federal intervention or by dragging constitutional institutions into political disputes,” he said.

سندھ کے سینئر وزیر شرجیل انعام میمن نے فاروق ستار کی پریس کانفرنس پر ردِعمل دیتے ہوئے کہا ہے کہ سندھ کے عوام کا مینڈیٹ، 1973ء کا آئین اور سندھ کوئی تجربہ گاہ نہیں کہ جب کسی جماعت کی سیاست کمزور پڑ جائے تو وہ ان پر حملہ آور ہو جائے۔ ڈاکٹر فاروق ستار کو یاد رکھنا چاہیے کہ سندھ کے… pic.twitter.com/FQSl1uUIyM

— Sindh Information Department (@sindhinfodepart) July 4, 2026

The senior minister alleged that MQM-P believed in the "politics of shortcuts rather than public mandate" and said its repeated calls for federal intervention reflected political blackmail.

“MQM-P should not turn the resources of Karachi's people into a means of political bargaining,” Memon said.

He also described MQM-P's demand to place Karachi's affairs under federal control as a "heinous conspiracy against the federal structure."

Questioning MQM-P's performance despite being part of the ruling coalition at the Centre, Memon asked why the party had failed to secure the promises it had made for Karachi and urged it to question its own allies in the federal government.

While both the PPP and MQM-P are coalition partners of the ruling PML-N at the Centre, MQM-P sits in the opposition in PPP-led Sindh and frequently criticises the provincial government's handling of Karachi.

سندھ کے سینئر وزیر شرجیل انعام میمن نے فاروق ستار کی پریس کانفرنس پر ردِعمل دیتے ہوئے کہا ہے کہ ایم کیو ایم آج بھی عوامی مینڈیٹ کے بجائے شارٹ کٹ سیاست پر یقین رکھتی ہے۔ وفاقی مداخلت جیسے معاملات کو سیاسی دباؤ کے لیے استعمال کرنا ایم کیو ایم کی سیاسی بلیک میلنگ کا ثبوت ہے۔

انہوں… pic.twitter.com/U4Czp8csxh

— Sindh Information Department (@sindhinfodepart) July 4, 2026

Since the deadly Gul Plaza fire on January 17 reignited debate over local government reforms, MQM-P has repeatedly demanded that Karachi be declared a federal territory.

After MQM-P urged Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to seek the resignations of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab, the PPP leadership publicly reaffirmed its confidence in the Sindh government and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC).