Pakistan: MQM-P's Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui resigns as IT minister

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui on Sunday announced his resignation as Information Technology minister but clarified that his party was not abandoning the Imran Khan-led PTI government despite its reservations.

Addressing a press conference in Karachi, Siddiqui clarified that though he is resigning from the ministerial post, his party is not withdrawing support from the government.

Siddiqui said that holding the post in the federal ministry was raising a lot of questions, Dawn reported.

"We had supported [PTI] in forming the government. We are not taking back our cooperation," he clarified.

The MOM-leader said that his party joined the government on a certain condition, however, those terms have not been met yet.

"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."

Siddiqui resignation has come after PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari's offered to MQM-P of ministries in Sindh in exchange for the party breaking off its alliance with the Centre.

However, Siddiqui has refused that the two incidents are linked. "Today's announcement has no connection to that," he said.