Written promises mark PPP-MQM rapprochement

Includes formation of a committee to monitor law and order situation.

KARACHI:

The Pakistan Peoples Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement finally patched up their differences on Tuesday night, as the two parties drafted a detailed understanding seeking to tackle the law and order situation in Karachi.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik also announced a crackdown on the Peoples Amn Committee along with other criminal elements functioning in the city. Malik, flanked by leaders of both parties, told a press conference at the Governor House after midnight that the government had decided to ban the PAC and would seal its offices, as well as the offices of organisations that support Baloch insurgent groups and “all other criminal gangs”, in Karachi.

Malik said the president had set up a committee under Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah to monitor the law and order situation. The committee is to meet once a week to come up with suggestions on how to curb extortion, kidnapping and other serious crimes, and then submit its advice to the chief minister within two weeks. The chief minister would then initiate action.

He added that the two parties had also resolved not to make any negative statements about each other in the press.

Dr Farooq Sattar, deputy convener of the MQM coordination committee, said the party was calling off its boycott of the Sindh Assembly and ties with the PPP were restored.

The reconciliation came after an exhaustive series of contacts between the two sides that began shortly after Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza set off their latest tiff on March 6 with his declaration that the PAC, which is accused of extortion, kidnapping and murder in Karachi, was an affiliate of the PPP.

The MQM reacted angrily and threatened to withdraw from the provincial government coalition. The party’s anger at Mirza’s comments was finally soothed last night, the announcement of a reconciliation coming after various high-level meetings, the last between President Asif Ali Zardari and an MQM delegation at Bilawal House on Tuesday.

The MQM delegation was led by Dr Sattar and included Babar Khan Ghauri, Raza Haroon, Dr Sagheer Ahmed Siddiqui, Syed Sardar Ahmed, Waseem Aftab and Adil Siddiqui. Rehman Malik, Qaim Ali Shah, Aga Siraj Durrani and presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar assisted the president in the talks.

They decided at the meeting to announce their patch-up at Governor’s House. Malik said that it was important in this time, while the country was at war with terrorists, that its political leaders acted wisely and resolved issues through dialogue. He said this was what the two parties had done. He said that the president and the MQM chief resolved not to allow democracy to be derailed.

Governor Ishratul Ibad said that dialogue was the only way to resolve disputes between coalition partners.

Chief Minister Shah that the restoration of the PPP-MQM relationship would benefit all Pakistanis and the people of Sindh, but especially Karachi. He said the government would take action against criminals irrespective of their political affiliations and the newly constituted committee would consult with the Sindh governor and the MQM.

Dr Sattar said that the reconciliation would promote peace and make democracy stronger in Pakistan. He said the public, but especially traders and businessmen, would welcome action against the PAC.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2011.