PM House meeting: Nawaz approves four demands of MQM

PM calls for resolving differences between parties through dialogue.

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday approved four demands of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the party which has pulled out of the PPP-led coalition government in Sindh triggering a political crisis in the province, The Express Tribune has learnt.

A four-member MQM delegation comprising Khalid Maqbool Siddiqi, Dr Farooq Sattar, Abdul Rashid Godil and Nasreen Jalil met the prime minister in the federal capital. According to sources, the delegation raised the issues of Karachi’s mega projects, arrest of party workers in the ongoing operation and problems with the PPP government in Sindh.

The prime minister approved MQM’s demand for the completion of four mega projects in Karachi. For this purpose, he also formed two committees: one headed by Railway Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique and the other by MQM lawmaker Dr Farooq Sattar. These committees will meet on Wednesday (today) to discuss allocation of funds for these projects which include Karachi Circular Railway (KCR), Lyari Expressway, sewage waste treatment plants and water scarcity.

Sources said that the prime minister also urged the MQM delegation to end the political crisis in Karachi. He convinced the MQM delegation that PPP leader Syed Khursheed Shah has already apologised over his controversial remarks against ‘Mohajirs’ and there was no need to agitate the issue further.

According to sources, the prime minister urged the MQM to sit across the table with the PPP and remove the mistrust between them. If the political crisis persists in Karachi, then the development projects could not be completed on time, sources quoted the prime minister as saying. He further said that political unrest in Sindh would distract MQM’s attention from its development agenda for Karachi.

Sources said that Dr Farooq Sattar agreed with the prime minister and said that the MQM would soon start negotiation with the PPP.

According to the official handout, the premier said that difference of opinion is the beauty of democracy and should aim at the country’s development. “Mutual differences among political parties must be sorted out through discussions and debates for which our system has provided appropriate platforms,” he added.

During the last few months Pakistan has witnessed an exemplary display of parliamentary democracy and rule of law in which all political parties expressed solidarity with the system for upholding the supremacy of democracy and strengthening of democratic institutions in the country, the prime minister said. Overall political situation in the country, particularly in Sindh, came under discussion during the meeting.

Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid, who also attended the meeting, confirmed to The Express Tribune that the MQM delegation agreed with the prime minister’s plea to solve their problems with the PPP in a closed-door meeting. He said Dr Farooq Sattar also agreed with the prime minister’s observation that after Kursheed Shah’s apology the controversy should be ended.

Dr Farooq Sattar told The Express Tribune that they have discussed development projects with the prime minister and other political issues.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2014.