PPP yields to MQM’s demands

KARACHI – The PPP on Wednesday conveyed to the MQM that most of its demands would be accepted, after which a meeting of the MQM Rabita Committee has been called to take a decision in the light of the emerging situation. A new working agreement is also expected between the PPP and the MQM.
Earlier, President Asif Zardari had met Sindh Governor Ishartul Ebad to discuss the PPP-MQM alliance. Sources said the governor had presented MQM’s demands during the meeting. “Then on Wednesday, President Zardari telephoned the Sindh governor and told him that the PPP was ready to accept most of MQM’s demands,” the sources said.
They said the PPP government had accepted not to present a bill regarding the restoration of the commissionerate system in the Sindh Assembly’s next session. The government had also accepted that the funds for the MQM ministers and the City District Government Karachi would be released. Zardari said the reservations expressed by the MQM delegation in a meeting with him in Islamabad were being addressed and the PPP’s policy of reconciliation would continue.
At a meeting with Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, the president expressed hope that misunderstandings between the coalition partners would soon be resolved. The president’s spokesman, Farhatullah Babar, told reporters that Zardari had asked PPP legislators and ministers to refrain from issuing hostile statements against the coalition partners.
In a late night meeting with Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, Dr Asif Hussain and the Sindh governor, Zardari discussed the political developments, especially the issue of removal of Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza to remove the MQM’s reservations. The president also spoke to MQM chief Altaf Hussain on the telephone during the meeting. Sources said the MQM leadership was also due to hold a “decisive” meeting with the president at 2am to discuss all contentious issues, including Mirza’s fate.
But ousting Mirza would be a difficult decision for the party as “he was close to the president”. There is also a strong opposition to this idea from within party ranks. Although Mirza told reporters that “sacrificing a ministry does not matter to me as my leader Benazir Bhutto had sacrifice her life for the sake of democracy”, the PPP leadership has not taken a final decision regarding his fate yet.
The sources said in case the PPP leadership agreed to remove Mirza, the party would have Agha Siraj Durrani as the immediate option for the slot.