The post-election fence mending process started on Monday between two archrivals,
Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz
(PML-N), when a high-powered MQM delegation called on Nawaz Sharif to pledge a new partnership between the estranged partners.
This was the first high-level contact between both parties after the 1992 military operation in Karachi which had left both them at loggerheads for the next two decades.
An MQM delegation comprising Dr Farooq Sattar and Senator Babar Ghauri met with the PML-N chief at the Parliament House and exchanged views on the political situation of the country.
PML-N leaders Senator Ishaq Dar and Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan were also present on the occasion.
The quiet meeting took place at the chambers of Senator Dar, the office of leader of the opposition.
A source said both sides discussed the possibility of cooperation between MQM and PML-N in the Centre as well as in Sindh.
“The MQM delegation conveyed Altaf Hussain’s felicitations to Nawaz Sharif over his party’s emphatic win in the recent elections. They also suggested that since both parties were victim of a negative propaganda by Imran Khan, they should cooperate in the Centre and Sindh,” said a PML-N leader when contacted.
The source said Sharif expressed gratitude to the MQM leadership and said soon formal talks would be held with them in this regard.
When contacted, Dr Farooq Sattar said they met with Sharif to convey felicitations from his party to the PML-N chief.
“This meeting was not planned but happened by chance,” he asserted without mentioning that they had sought a special time from the PML-N chief.
Ice thaws as MQM seeks future cooperation with PML-N
