MQM-P New Provinces March Set for November 29
The MQM-P new provinces march will head towards Sharae Faisal on November 29, party Chairman Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui announced on Sunday. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan also announced a nationwide movement for the creation of new provinces. Siddiqui made the announcement at a general workers’ meeting at PIB Colony in Karachi.
Siddiqui said urban Sindh had the strongest case for a separate province. He said the MQM-Pakistan would lead the campaign to secure the rights of the people. He added that new provinces should be created wherever there is a demand and a need based on population, and that the time had come for people to take to the streets to achieve their rights.
MQM-P new provinces march: what was announced
Announcing the November 29 march, Siddiqui said an MQM-Pakistan convoy would head towards Sharae Faisal. He claimed that all routes leading to the main artery would be blocked once the procession set off. He said people across Pakistan were looking towards the MQM and telling it to move forward, assuring it of their support.
Siddiqui warned those opposing the demand for new provinces against threatening his party. He said the MQM-Pakistan was prepared to confront resistance. Recalling the September 30, 1986 violence in Hyderabad, the Sohrab Goth incident and the Qasba-Aligarh tragedy, he said the movement had survived numerous challenges and would continue.
Responding to questions about the proposed province’s geographical boundaries, Siddiqui said migrants had brought their share of land with them when they migrated to Pakistan after sacrificing their properties in India. He also claimed that properties left behind by non-Muslims in Pakistan legally belonged to the migrants. Both claims were presented as his arguments at the meeting, not as settled legal findings.
Other leaders at the meeting
MQM-Pakistan leader Wasim Akhtar said the meeting comprised workers from District East alone and did not represent the entire city. He said Bilawal Bhutto Zardari should come and see that these were only workers from District East, not the entire Karachi. He claimed the city was increasingly aligning itself with the MQM and that the slogan emerging from Karachi would reach Islamabad.
Dr Farooq Sattar said the MQM-P struggle concerned 260 million people across Pakistan who, he alleged, continued to face injustice. He said the 18th Constitutional Amendment had failed to improve the country’s economic growth, while education and healthcare facilities remained inadequate, roads were in poor condition and even basic municipal services such as garbage collection were lacking. His remarks frame the provinces demand as a service-delivery argument, not only as an identity argument.
Why the demand returns to the agenda
The demand for new provinces in Sindh has returned at intervals for decades, and it always raises the same practical questions. A new province would need a constitutional amendment, a defined boundary, a capital, a provincial assembly and a share of federal resources. None of those steps were announced on Sunday. The announcement was a campaign call and a march date, not a draft bill.
That distinction matters for readers in Karachi and in the rest of Sindh. A march can put a demand back in public debate. It cannot by itself redraw a province. The next test will be whether the campaign produces a concrete proposal on boundaries and resources, and whether other parties engage with it or reject it. For now, the November 29 date gives the debate a clear diary point.
When is the MQM-P new provinces march?
The march is set for November 29, when an MQM-Pakistan convoy will head towards Sharae Faisal in Karachi.
Who announced the march?
Party Chairman Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui announced it at a general workers’ meeting at PIB Colony in Karachi on Sunday.
What does the MQM-P want?
The party wants new provinces created wherever there is a demand and a need based on population, and says urban Sindh has the strongest case for a separate province.
Was a boundary for a new province announced?
No. Siddiqui was asked about boundaries and answered with an argument about migrants bringing their share of land, but no map or boundary was announced.
What did Farooq Sattar say?
He said the struggle concerned 260 million people who faced injustice, and argued that the 18th Amendment had not improved growth, education, healthcare, roads or municipal services.
