ISLAMABAD/KARACHI – Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) parliamentary leader and Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Farooq Sattar and Federal Ports and Shipping Minister Babar Khan Ghauri submitted their resignations to the Presidency on Tuesday, Pakistan Today has learnt, as the government stepped up efforts to convince its estranged ally to reconsider its decision of withdrawing from the federal cabinet.
“Farooq Sattar and Babar Ghauri have sent their resignations in line with the party’s decision to quit the federal cabinet,” a MQM source said. Meanwhile, giving a new twist to the situation, president’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the MQM leaders’ resignations had nothing to do with the Presidency.
“Farooq Sattar and Babar Ghauri are members of the federal cabinet and the matter of their resignations pertains to the office of the Prime Minister, not the Aiwan-e-Sadr,” Farhat said. He also said the PPP would continue to have talks with the MQM, adding that the differences between the two parties would be resolved soon.
Also on Tuesday, a two-member high-level committee of the PPP contacted the MQM leadership regarding the party’s reservations. The committee, comprising Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, contacted the MQM leadership via telephone. Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan also attended the meeting at the Chief Minister’s House where Malik had arrived from Naudero.
It was decided that the PPP representatives would meet and apprise President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani about their conversation with the MQM leadership. The party’s strategy regarding MQM’s demands would be made in the light of the directives of the president and the prime minister.
Malik told reporters that there was no deadlock between the PPP and the MQM and all reservations of the coalition partner would be removed soon. According to an official handout, the committee discussed the strategy in connection with the issues and reservations expressed by the MQM.
Online news agency reported that Zardari and Gilani separately called the Sindh governor and assured him that the government would remove the ally’s reservations. Meanwhile, MQM chief Altaf Hussain telephoned JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman, asking him to play an active role in removing the misunderstandings between the Pashtun and non-Pushtun people of the country, particularly in Karachi.
