“High level contacts have been established between both the party leaders and the issue will be resolved,” a senior PPP leader said.
Despite two days since the MQM decided to part ways with the coalition government, Speaker Sindh Assembly Agha Siraj Durrani has not yet accepted MQM MPAs application to sit on the opposition benches. Neither the governor nor the chief minister has given nod to the resignations tendered by ministers, advisers and coordinators of the party yet.
Talking to the media, Agha Siraj Durrani said the PPP believes in reconciliation policy and it would be better for both parties to continue the coalition in Sindh. When asked about the MQM resignations submitted to his office, he said “instead of accepting the resignation, I have offered [myself] to play neutral role as a mediator for MQM and PPP to resolve their differences,” he told journalists outside Sindh Assembly.
Durrani hoped that both parties would accept his offer for the benefit of the province. “We are both permanent residents of this province. These kinds of petty issues occur in a family and can be resolved amicably,” he remarked.
Responding to Durrani’s offer, MQM deputy parliamentary leader in Sindh Assembly Khawaja Izharul Hasan said “there would be no differences [between us] if people like Agha Durrani is given authority in PPP,” he said, adding that their resignations are under process and they would raise the issue again in next session of the assembly.
MQM has made and broken the alliance with the PPP more than a dozen times over the last six years. The latest instance occurred in reaction to PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s remarks against Altaf Hussain after killing of his party member in Karachi, and subsequent allegations on MQM at Saturday’s rally.
100% unacceptable: Altaf
Meanwhile, MQM chief Altaf Hussain made it clear on Tuesday that his party will not be part of the PPP-led Sindh government again. In a phone conversation with Sheikh Rasheed, the MQM chief said “the MQM will not be part of the Sindh government at any cost.”
Altaf said that there was pressure from the workers belonging to different departments of the party and members of the Rabita Committee for not joining hands with the PPP, and it was “100 per cent unacceptable” for them to be PPP’s coalition partners again.
Party sources say that Babar Ghauri had first spoken to Sheikh Rasheed in a bid to get PTI’s support of unseating the current PPP’s leader of opposition Khursheed Shah in the National Assembly, against whom the party has already submitted a resolution.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 22nd, 2014.
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Do not join back if you're 100% sure sir! Or it is already becoming a joke for a man of your caliber. So much so that husband wife analogy is created for this routine. So now it was final, OK?!
No more DPP......DEAD PEOPLE PARTY. Let the Bhuttos and Zardaris worship graves. Enough is enough of this feudal system. Separate Province for Muhajjirs. No more Quota System. No more second class citizenship.