MQM likely to join cabinet today

Party conveys to the president the demand of its inclusion in policy making.

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI:

After their meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has finally decided to rejoin the federal cabinet.

Sources privy to the MQM delegation’s meeting with President Zardari said that the MQM has agreed ‘in principle’ to become part of a broader ruling coalition headed by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

“We discussed the issues of economy, law and order, extortions and target killings and conveyed to the president that if the PPP ensures our inclusion in policy making, we can think for greater cooperation in the centre,” Dr Farooq Sattar, MQM’s parliamentary leader in the National Assembly, told The Express Tribune.

When asked if greater cooperation could mean rejoining the federal cabinet, he answered in the affirmative. “MQM Rabita Committee will meet today (Wednesday) to deliberate on the issue and make a final decision,” he said.

The PPP expects that MQM would join the cabinet by the 7th or 8th of this month but Sattar said it could be delayed as many issues are yet to be sorted.

MQM is likely to be offered two federal and two state ministries, those of ports and shipping and information technology. MQM had earlier demanded the foreign ministry but after the PPP gained a comfortable majority following Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s (PML-Q) entrance into the cabinet, the MQM has had to show flexibility.

But the PPP and PML-Q still made concerted efforts to persuade the MQM and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) to rejoin. After the PPP failed to convince JUI-F, President Zardari has assigned his new partner PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to woo the JUI-F. Shujaat has made repeated contacts with JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman during the past few days but with little success.

MQM has expressed certain reservations before joining the government, particularly when it comes to its traditional stronghold Karachi. The party claims that its workers and supporters are being deliberately targeted in the city.

MQM also demands that constituencies where it has strong vote banks are not altered in the proposed delimitation planned after the census. After his meeting with the MQM delegation, comprising Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, Sattar, Senator Babar Khan Ghauri, Dr Sagheer, Waseem Aftab and Adil Siddiqui, Zardari rang up MQM Chief Altaf Hussain and reiterated his party’s offer that MQM join the cabinet.

Meanwhile, a statement issued by the presidency after the meeting said matters such as the coalition in Sindh and the province’s law and order, particularly of Karachi, were discussed. The MQM delegation also discussed the current economic situation and made suggestions for the upcoming budget.

The president offered his condolences over the death of MQM leader and former MPA Liaquat Qureshi and other party activists assuring that perpetrators would be brought to justice.





Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2011.