MQM, JUI dampen PML-N’s plan but politicking continues

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)’s efforts to form a grand alliance of opposition parties appear to be fizzling out as the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) are not willing to be part of any move aimed at toppling the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led government without agreeing to a common minimum agenda to address the “real issues” the country and the people are faced with, even as Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif held a meeting with MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar in London on Monday.
Both parties want a common minimum agenda to be set by the main opposition party, the PML-N, and then move forward for to address the issues. “The PML-N should come forward with a positive attitude instead of issuing press statements (against the government) and its objective should not be toppling the government. Toppling the government should be rather a secondary objective,” JUI-F Senator Haji Ghulam Ali told Pakistan Today on Monday.
He proposed that the opposition parties should unite to develop a strategy to pull the country out of the crises which ranged from poverty, shortage of energy and corruption to deteriorating law and order in the country. He said it was not the right time to destabilise the political system in the country, adding that being the largest opposition party, the PML-N should take initiative to assemble opposition parties on one platform and work for the people.
He was critical of the PML-N’s “solo flight” policy and added that it must accept the existence of smaller parties. To a question, he said the Fazl-led party was ready to sacrifice the position of opposition leader in the Senate if the PML-N showed sincerity in its efforts to form a grand opposition alliance.
On the other hand, the MQM has also said that the PML-N should come up with a clear-cut objective and agenda for the formation of a grand opposition alliance. MQM spokesman Wasay Jalil said: “The opposition parties cannot even unite on a common minimum agenda, let alone topple the government.” He said the PML-N had not formally contacted the Altaf-led party yet for the formation of the alliance. The position taken by the two main opposition parties has seemingly hurt the PML-N’s efforts to unite the opposition parties against the government on one platform.

The PML-N has established contacts with other opposition parties to form the alliance against the government. According to a source in the party, senior leaders of the party were tasked with establishing backdoor and direct contacts with other opposition parties.
Sources said Shahbaz Sharif and Farooq Sattar had held a brief meeting on the sidelines of the joint diplomatic meeting of the Commonwealth in London. Both leaders discussed the MQM’s decision to join the opposition and the possibility of initiating contact between the two parties.
Sources added that the MQM and PML-N had been in contact at all levels since last week and leaders of both parties were expected to meet in Pakistan some time today. In the first phase of this “campaign”, the PML-N is approaching the MQM, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and the PML-Likeminded group to talk them into joining the alliance against the government. The source said senior PML-N leader Ishaq Dar had been tasked with mending ties with the MQM.
Dar confirmed that he had met MQM leaders in an effort to convince them to form the alliance. He told reporters at Allama Iqbal International Airport upon arrival from London that more meetings would also take place shortly.
NO TALKS ON ALLIANCE YET:He said even though contact had been re-established with the MQM, no talks about the formation of the alliance had been held yet. Dar said he would contact MQM chief Altaf Hussain and other opposition leaders soon in connection with the PML-N’s efforts to build up pressure on the PPP government. Dar said there was no harm in burying the hatchet for Pakistan’s sake.
The PML-N has given Javed Hashmi and Raja Zafarul Haq the task of contacting the JI while Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and Ahsan Iqbal have been assigned the responsibility of consulting the PML-Likeminded, Online news agency reported.
However any decision to contact the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf has not been taken so far.