Will MQM join the Sindh govt?

Good, if it does so with sincerity

What was expected from all political quarters has taken place in Sindh again – the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) are set to combine to form a coalition government to rule the province. Having ruled the province from 2008 to 2013 without being able to solve the law and order crisis, the question is whether the coalition will be able to resolve the crisis this time around? Both political parties are left with much to prove. The PPP, having lost badly in the Punjab, can use Sindh as a much needed face lifter to restore its status as a national party. The MQM, again having failed to penetrate beyond urban Sindh and having undergone a much needed ‘cleansing’ process, now faces a challenge to prove its governance credentials. Is there a will to deliver, or are the two parties getting too comfortable in their shoes? The emergence of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) should keep both on their toes.

On the ground, a three-member PPP delegation led by President Asif Ali Zardari’s trusted lieutenant, Rehman Malik, Pir Mazharul Haq and Makhdoom Jamil-uz-Zaman visited MQM’s Nine Zero headquarters on Sunday. The delegation was received by senior MQM leaders but missed out on the traditional red carpet treatment. The impression was reinforced that this is a very different MQM, which is not “too keen” to join the government. If it be recalled, the MQM left the last PPP coalition weeks before the May 11 general elections, having accused the PPP of “patronizing criminals and terrorists” and not holding local bodies’ elections. Relations between the two parties worsened when Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah visited Lyari soon after taking oath of office for a fresh term and attended a reception reportedly hosted by Uzair Jan, the chief of the banned Peoples Amn Committee (PAC), which the MQM calls a gang of criminals.

All these issues came up in the meeting between the two party leaderships. The MQM leadership did not offer any concrete reassurances that it would join the government, but MQM chief Altaf Hussain later said that there was no urban representation in the Sindh cabinet which comprised only people belonging to rural areas. The sense is that the MQM is only delaying to secure the best position for itself in the new provincial government. It also is seeking assurances that the PPP will take action in Lyari and end the alleged “unannounced operation against the MQM.” Malik denied that the PPP had anything to do with the PAC. The two men who flanked him said the alliance was the “need of the hour.” Now the MQM’s response is awaited. Only good can come out of the MQM joining the government in a sincere manner. Surely taking recourse to strikes in Karachi would not go a long way to resolving the genuine problems facing both urban and rural Sindh.