Switching sides again: MQM to join Sindh govt soon, confirms party

Party chief Altaf Hussain meets PPP's Rehman Malik

KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) officially announced on Tuesday that it would become part of the Sindh government and make seat adjustments with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in the upcoming Senate elections.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the party also said that MQM chief Altaf Hussain and PPP leader Rehman Malik met in London, where they decided that the two parties will support each other during the March 3 Senate elections.

As the MQM leaves the opposition benches in Sindh and becomes coalition partners with the PPP in Sindh once again, the two parties have decided to sign a written agreement. According to this agreement, a working committee will be formed — comprising Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Syed Sardar Ahmed and Farooq Sattar from the MQM, and Nisar Khuhro, Dr Sikandar Mandhro and Qaim Ali Shah from the PPP — to negotiate their power-sharing formula.

Another committee of parliamentarians will be formed to deal with governance issues between the two parties. In the three-hour meeting, Malik told Hussain that the 60:40 job quota in government departments will be implemented.

The reconciliation process between the two parties started last week with a phone conversation between PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari and Hussain in which the two leaders decided to support each other in the Senate elections.

During the Senate elections, the parliamentarians from Sindh will elect 11 senators from Sindh — seven on general seats and four on reserved seats. With the agreed seat-adjustment formula, the PPP will be able to secure seven seats while the MQM will get four.

Currently, the MQM has seven senators, out of which Abdul Haseeb Khan, Babar Ghauri and Shirala Mallick are retiring in March. According to party sources, Babar Ghauri, Ateeq Mir, Barrister Saif and Waseem Akhtar have been named favourites for the four Senate seats. The MQM quit the Sindh government in October 2014, after some PPP leaders made unsavoury comments against the MQM.

The provincial cabinet is also going to witness a reshuffle. According to officials privy to the matter, three ministers, an adviser and a special assistant of the MQM will be accommodated in the new setup. "It is most likely that the MQM will be given its old portfolio and a free hand to work within the provincial government," claimed the officer. This means that the health, industries, Auqaf, sports and IT ministries will come under the party.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 11^th, 2015.