Govt wants MQM back to negotiating table

JUI-F chief hints at a meeting in the next two or three days

ISLAMABAD: The federal government is still striving to bring the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) back to parliament. The MQM has also agreed to hold a meeting with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to discuss the resignations of its federal and provincial legislatures and their possible return to the assemblies.

According to a central leader of the MQM, a party delegation would soon be visiting Islamabad. Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of his eponymous faction of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, has hinted that the meeting between the MQM and the PML-N is expected in the next two or three days.

Read: Fazl calls Altaf, urges MQM to resume talks

One of Maulana Fazl’s close aides said the MQM leaders were waiting for the green light from London (where the party chief Altaf Hussain has been residing since 1992).

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has once again approached the chief negotiator, Maulana Fazl, with the assurance that the JUI-F chief would arrange a meeting between MQM leaders and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to discuss the party’s demands for withdrawing their resignations.

MQM’s parliamentary leader in the National Assembly Dr Farooq Sattar had earlier complained that Premier Nawaz did not meet his party’s delegation during the premier’s daylong visit to Karachi on Thursday. He also said that his party’s concerns regarding the ongoing Karachi operation were not being addressed by the authorities.

Read: In opposition: Political parties against MQM’s call to divide Sindh

In a statement later, the MQM stated that its lawmakers’ resignations were final and that they would not take part in dialogue over the matter anymore. However, Dar said on Sunday the government was prepared to address MQM’s concerns. He also requested the JUI-F chief to persuade the MQM leaders to come back to the negotiating table.

MQM lawmakers had resigned en bloc from the National Assembly, Senate and Sindh Assembly on August 12 because of their reservations over the Karachi operation.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2015.