And not accepting them
If the initial reaction is anything to go by, this matter of MQM’s mass resignations will play out for a while. The government will, from the looks of it, try to do what it can to keep them from being accepted. It can do without the chaos, not just in Karachi but also in Islamabad. And, more importantly, it would rather avoid the headache that comes with the many uncertainties of by-elections. That much, at least, can be said with a degree of certainty about what the government wants. It would, at the end of the day, rather find a way of getting MQM to withdraw the resignations. That is why the NA speaker’s body language change so suddenly on Wednesday.
It is not immediately clear, though, what MQM really wants. Their chief has clearly grown increasingly frustrated with the operation, the raids, and of course with the Imran Farooq case in London. He has quit the party’s command more than usual as well in these recent months. But the decision to walk out of both Houses and the Sindh assembly raises important questions; all the more since it comes immediately after the novelties and precedents of PTI’s long resignation drama. And this is different from the ’92 resignations from the national and Sindh assemblies.
It took a full year for the PTI resignation issue to come full circle. And since the government learnt a thing or two about handling sticky situations politically because of things associated with the dharna, the N-league started moving pieces across the board as soon as Nawaz Sharif landed back in Pakistan. Most major parties have begun pressuring MQM to take back the resignations. And the PPP, especially, is pushing for talks. To its credit, MQM has kept the back door open; hinting more than once that there was a way back if certain concerns were addressed. It is now up to all parties concerned to ensure this deadlock is overcome while adhering to the law. At stake are the Karachi operation, wider security, and mainstream politics of Islamabad.