Back to basics

After a series of intense meetings in Karachi and Islamabad, MQM has decided to step back into the federal cabinet.

After a series of intense meetings in both Karachi and Islamabad, the MQM has decided to step back into the federal cabinet. Portfolios and other details will be decided later but their return marks a huge success for the PPP and, along with the alliance forged with the PML-Q, secures its government, which, at one point, had seemed somewhat shaky. The MQM’s delicately balanced position of supporting the government but not taking up ministries obviously meant it was in danger of withdrawing support at any time and leaving the government teetering.

The restoration of smiles as an MQM delegation made up of senior leaders met the interior minister and others comes in part as a response to the exit of former Sindh home minister Zulfiqar Mirza, whose curiously inappropriate comments had led the MQM to walk out in the first place. There is some suggestion that Mirza’s former post may be taken by an MQM man, as the final details of the new power-sharing agreement are worked out. This would also mean that the party takes on responsibility for law and order in restive Karachi, and there may be a certain degree of advantage in this, given the political realities of the city and the lines of influence that run through it. Either way, it is high time that peace was restored to the country’s commercial and business capital.

Predictions that the PPP had lost its hold on the government have been proved inaccurate. Indeed, the hold seems firmer than ever before. The alliance is now a truly effective one, reaching into each of the four provinces. This could also mean an improvement in the quality of governance. So far, much energy has been lost on dealing with internal issues. Perhaps it will now become possible to focus on matters that need solution and not on the question of dealing with the crises that arise with coalition partners and throw the government into chaos. For now, these will hopefully come to an end with the coalition standing on solid ground.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2011.