Working out solutions: MQM team to leave for Islamabad for further talks

Waseem Akhtar says they are waiting for a green signal regarding the committee's formation

KARACHI: Despite stalled talks between the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the federal government, the party plans to leave for Islamabad in a day or two for further negotiations, said an MQM official on Saturday.

MQM senior leader Farooq Sattar, who is heading the party's negotiating team, told The Express Tribune that they will leave for Islamabad in a day or two. Sattar, however, admitted that there has been no further progress since the last meeting when a consensus had been reached over the formation of a Grievances Redressal Committee (GRC).

On August 12, the MQM resigned from the Parliament and the Sindh Assembly, citing victimisation in the ongoing targeted operation. Presenting 19 reasons for the resignation, the party demanded formation of a monitoring committee, release of innocent workers and investigation and judicial commission of workers killed in extrajudicial killings.

Talks between the federal government and the MQM were termed positive when the two discussed the formation of the committee to address complaints of the party regarding the ongoing operation.

Meanwhile, another member of the negotiating team, MQM leader Waseem Akhtar, said that they were waiting for a green signal regarding the formation of the committee from the government. "We only accepted negotiations when Maulana Fazlur Rehman stepped in, having the mandate of the other political parties," he said. "If a committee is not formed, we will obviously not go back to the assemblies."

However, sources in the party said that the MQM was hopeful that things were headed in a positive direction and that the committee will be formed.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2015.