PPP leadership huddles before key MQM talks

Rehman Malik leaves for London in a bid to persuade MQM chief not to quit the coalition, Zardari promises action.

ISLAMABAD:

Key members of the Pakistan Peoples Party mandated the party’s negotiators to take “any decision in the best interest of the party” regarding their alliance with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

A day after their crucial meeting with an MQM team, the leaders of the ruling party gathered here on Wednesday night to discuss the current political situation and pondered over the options available to the government.

President Asif Ali Zardari, who is also the co-chairman of the PPP, had called the meeting to discuss with them the prospects of their alliance with the MQM and talks with the IMF.

Zardari had sought a week’s time from MQM to redress their grievances. The PPP and MQM are once again at odds after a recent statement by Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza.

MQM had threatened to quit the coalition in Sindh and sit on the opposition benches at the center if the PPP did not take concrete steps to address their reservations.

PPP leadership dispatched Interior Minister Rehman Malik, who had in the past played the role of a mediator  between the two parties on several sticky situations.

Malik is also scheduled to meet MQM chief Altaf Hussain in London in a bid to persuade him to remain a PPP ally. MQM sources said that the future of their coalition appeared to be “bleak”, adding that they were no longer ready to accept mere ‘guarantees’.

“This time, we want to see concrete actions. Promises and guarantees will not serve the purpose now,” an MQM leader told The Express Tribune.

“They (the PPP) have to choose between us (the MQM ) and the terrorists,” the MQM leader said, referring to his party’s stance on the so-called Peoples Aman Committee which Dr Mirza described as  a PPP subsidiary.

MQM accuses the outfit of being “a gang of extortionists”.

The Presidency, which appeared to be reluctant about issuing any public statement at this time, said as much that matters related to coalition partners were part of the agenda.

“Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani briefed the meeting about the overall law and order and the political situations with reference to the coalition matters,” Farhatullah Babar, the presidential spokesman said. Federal Minister for Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh briefed the meeting about the domestic economic situation and the progress on the ongoing talks with the IMF.

The finance minister is learnt to have told the party leadership that the government would now have to take “some tough economic decisions”, otherwise the economic situation would spiral out of hand.

Ministers, who attended the meeting included: Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan, Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Dr Firdaus Ashiq Awan, Zaheeruddin Babar Awan and Makhdoom Amin Fahim among others.

‘Zardari promised tough action in a week’

President Asif Ali Zardari assured the MQM that their reservations will be addressed within a week and stern action will be taken against criminal elements no matter what their political affiliations.

This was stated by Deputy Convener of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Dr Farooq Sattar and parliamentary leader of the MQM in the Senate Babar Ghauri while talking to reporters on Wednesday after arriving from Islamabad where they met President Zardari.

According to a handout, a four-member MQM delegation, comprising Deputy Convener Dr Farooq Sattar, members Dr Sagheer Ahmed, Raza Haroon and parliamentary leader of the MQM in the Senate Babar Ghauri, met President Zardari at the President House. The delegation informed the president about the MQM’s strong reservations over the  statement of Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, it said.

Federal Minister for Interior Rehman Malik and spokesman for the president Farhatullah Babar also attended the meeting from the PPP side.

The meeting lasted more than three hours, it is learnt.

The MQM leaders informed the president about an increasing sense of insecurity in Karachi after proliferation of extortion by criminal elements, adding that criminals were not sparing anyone be it traders, businessmen, shopkeepers. “Even artistes were not immune from this crime,” they are reported to have told the president. ]

The MQM leaders also informed the president about people’s mounting concerns regarding the increasing incidents of robberies, killings and other criminal activities in Karachi.

The President heard MQM’s reservations with seriousness and expressed his concern over the unbridled criminal activities.

He promised that traders, businessmen, shopkeepers and artistes will be provided protection and criminal elements will be dealt with an iron fist. During the meeting, the President also contacted MQM chief Altaf Hussain over telephone and repeated his assurances.

He is said to have told
him that he will convene a meeting of provincial ministers of Sindh and other party leaders which will also be attended by Governor Sindh Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan and Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah to remove MQM’s reservations.

MQM’s Co-ordination Committee has decided to persist on its principled stand until the party’s reservations are removed.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2011.