Sindh

Left in the lurch: Dialogue with MQM to be resumed again, says Pir Mazhar

The MQM left the government when we almost reached an agreement, says the minister.

Z Ali October 12, 2011

HYDERABAD: As the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) ups the ante to get the Sindh Local Government Ordinance passed by the Sindh Assembly, a senior leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party said that the system was not acceptable “holistically.”

“The people of Sindh rejected Pervez Musharraf’s system,” said the senior minister for education and literacy in Sindh, Pir Mazharul Haq, on Tuesday. “We were in the middle of making a decision when the ‘Bhai log’ left the government. Now we will resume it since they have returned.”

Mazhar visited the press club for an informal discussion with journalists. There, he found himself confronted with contentious questions regarding his party’s stance with regards to the local government system and Zulfiqar Mirza’s statements. “I would request you to confine questions to education,” he urged the newsmen. “Whenever I visit Hyderabad, I am dragged into political issues and distracted from the topic.”

He said that he was unaware of any session of the Sindh Assembly set for October 20 to pass the local government bill. “We are only hearing this from the media,” he said. “Neither has the party leadership discussed it among themselves nor have we talked to the MQM about it.”

Mazhar said that the matter of reintroducing the local government system would be dealt with in a way to satisfy all the stakeholders.

When asked about Mirza’s claims of having garnered the support of 50 MPAs who would oppose the bill in the house, he said that the party MPAs could not betray the party. “The person who made the claims should also swear by this on the holy book.”

The senior PPP leader termed the meeting between federal minister Khursheed Shah and Zulfiqar Mirza a “social interaction” which had nothing to do with politics. “If I embrace Mirza, it doesn’t mean I support him politically as well.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2011.