ISLAMABAD: Assuring the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) that its grievances would be addressed, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Sunday barred Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza from issuing statements in the future on contentious issues pertaining to coalition partners.
After meeting an MQM delegation, Gilani telephoned Mirza to ask him about the statement in which he had accused the MQM of being involved in assassinations in Karachi.
The Sindh home minister told the prime minister that he had just reproduced the facts which had been provided to him as interior minister of the province by the law enforcement agencies.
Barring Mirza from issuing such statements in the future, Gilani told him to bring all contentious issues of the province in the knowledge of the federal government instead of making provocative statements.
Earlier, in a meeting with the MQM delegation, Gilani assured them that the Pakistan People’s Party would address their grievances.
A delegation of MQM, headed by Dr Farooq Sattar, met the prime minister to discuss differences between the two coalition partners, particularly Mirza’s statement.
Raising serious objections over the statement, the MQM had given the PPP government 10 days to explain if the statement was Mirza’s personal view or the party’s policy. The MQM had also said it would meet Gilani and the president after Ashura to raise the issue. The MQM delegation would meet President Asif Ali Zardari today (Monday).
A source in the MQM informed Pakistan Today that his party was concerned over the fact that if Azam Swati could be removed for making statements against former minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi without taking the cabinet into confidence, why was Mirza not being removed for doing the same thing?
The source also said the ball was now in the PPP’s court and it was up to it to decide what measure to take to address the MQM’s grievances.
