Coalition partners: Conference on Karachi situation postponed

Sources say conference postponed because of reservations expressed of the provincial government.

KARACHI: In a surprising development, the Sindh government has again postponed an all-party conference on the law and order situation in Karachi.

The meeting, previously scheduled to be held on January 31, was originally announced to be held on January 26, but it was put off without any justification.

Although PPP leaders insisted that the only reason for the postponement was that the government wanted to gain more time to hold it “in a better manner”, sources said that the conference was being postponed because of reservations expressed by one of the coalition partners of the provincial government.

An MQM handout said that the law and order in Punjab was worse than Sindh. Therefore, it said, a conference should be held there urgently.

Four different committees have been formed to persuade various political parties.

The first comprises Ayaz Soomro, Najmi Alam and Prof N D Khan. This team is tasked with inviting the MQM, Jamat-i-Islami, PML-N, JUI-F, Jamhuri Watan Party, and JUI (Samiul Haq). The second committee includes Pir Mazharul Haq, Rashid Rabbani, Waqar Mehdi: it is tasked with inviting the ANP, PML-F, NPP JUP and the Jafaria Alliance.

The third committee includes Rafique Engineer, Shehla Raza, Lal Bux Bhutto and Habibullah Junaidi. This team has been given the responsibility to invite the Sunni Tehreek, Tehrik-e-Insaf, JUI-F, Jamiat Ahle Sunnat, Nifaze-e-Fiqah Jafria and Jamiat Ahle Hadis.

Meanwhile, Taj Haider, Mahkhdoom Jameeluz Zaman and Zahid Bhurgari have been asked to coordinate with all Sindhi nationalist parties.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 29^th,  2011.