Mending fences: Malik meets Altaf Hussain

Malik says both parties will jointly combat all internal and external challenged in the "best national interest."

KARACHI:

In a separate bid to mend fences, Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik met Muttahidda Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain in London on Sunday where he expressed the hope that the alliance between the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the MQM would remain intact. He also said that both parties would jointly combat all internal and external challenges in the “best national interest.”

The meeting comes at a time when relations between the two sides are under a cloud. On Sunday, the Karachi chapter of the MQM’s Rabita Committee condemned the murder of an MQM activist, who was killed in the Ranchore Lines area by “members of a terrorist gang.”

In the London meeting, the MQM side comprised members of the Coordination Committee which included Muhammad Anwar, Tariq Mir, Anees Qaim Khani and Qasim Ali Raza. They apprised the interior minister of their party’s reservations.

Malik assured Altaf Hussain of conveying the details of the briefing to the president “as soon as he landed in Pakistan”. He said that the MQM was a “logical ally” of the government and it has proved itself  to be a reliable companion during testing times.

During the meeting which lasted well over three hours, Rehman Malik gave a briefing over the domestic situation, the situation in Balochistan, the assassination of Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer and minorities affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti, party sources said.

Rehman Malik is also reported to have told Altaf Hussain that the government was devising a “scientific strategy” to curb kidnapping for ransom and extortion in Sindh, especially Karachi.

Altaf Hussain lauded Malik for his role as a mediator and said that he personally respected him. Hussein also hoped that Malik would be able to use his skills in addressing MQM’s reservations.

Altaf Hussain also expressed his gratitude to Malik for calling upon him despite knowing that he was observing his father’s death anniversary. On the occasion, the meeting also offered prayers for Altaf Hussain’s father Nazeer Hussain.

In a related development, according to a statement issued Sunday, the MQM Rabita Committee urged the president and the prime minister to take notice of the murder of two of MQM’s activists in two days by the terrorists and end official patronage of the terrorists of the gang war.

Accusing a terrorist gang of holding the entire city hostage at gunpoint, the committee members said that insecurity was “so pervasive that no one, including traders, businessmen or shopkeepers, were immune from extortionists”.

On Sunday, an MQM activist was gunned down in Block 3 of Gulistan-e-Jauhar. The incident occurred near Kamran Chorangi where the victim identified was Umair Ali, 25. Station Head Officer Asif Jalhrani confirmed that the victim was an MQM worker.The body was later shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for legal formalities.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2011.