The government continues to keep its doors open to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), with President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah refusing to accept the resignations of Sindh Governor Ishratul Ebad and the MQM’s federal and provincial ministers despite the party not budging from its position.
The MQM leadership has turned down yet another reconciliation effort by the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) made through “common friends” amidst public posturing by the ruling party that the government was not threatened by any grand opposition alliance. Prime Minister Gilani said on Tuesday the MQM was still part of the government and the PPP was in close and constant contact with its estranged ally. “The government is in contact with MQM and they are still PPP allies,” the PM told reporters here after the inauguration of Zero Point Interchange (ZPI), Lehtrar Road dual carriageway and the ground-breaking ceremony of the Park Enclave residential project. Gilani said democracy and the government were under no threat from the opposition or corruption. Insiders told Pakistan Today that it was quite obvious from the government’s refusal to accept the resignations of the MQM ministers and governor that
it wanted to keep its former ally engaged to foil PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif’s efforts to from a grand opposition alliance.
Prime Minister Gilani and PML-Quaid President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain have held three successive meetings to block any chances of a grand alliance of opposition parties, yet the MQM leaders see no chance for their party’s return to the treasury benches despite the accelerated behind-the-scenes efforts by “common friends”.
SHUJAAT’S OVERTURES TURNED DOWN: A source told Pakistan Today that irrespective of the public posturing by the PPP top brass that the government was not threatened by a grand opposition alliance, the ruling party had to seek Shujaat’s help, requesting him to use his good relationship with MQM chief Altaf Hussain to convince him to make another U-turn, but even Shujaat was unable to convince the estranged leaders of the MQM, who were now seriously formulating positions on a grand opposition alliance.
An MQM leader told Pakistan Today that Shujaat had contacted the MQM leadership recently but to no avail. He said Shujaat had also made public contact with Altaf Hussain a week ago but could not convince him either. Asked whether Shujaat was in a position to convince Altaf, the MQM leader said there were absolutely no chances of any breakthrough.
NO RECENT CONTACT: MQM Spokesman Wasay Jalil said there had been no recent contact between the PPP and the MQM. He said that his party had completed its job by resigning from their posts and now it was up to the government to accept their resignations. He said there were absolutely no chances of his party’s return to the treasury benches.
However, a source confirmed that the resignation by Governor Ebad had been received at the Presidency but it was not being accepted on the pretext that President Asif Ali Zardari was abroad.
“This is a delay tactic, just to see whether efforts to win back the MQM’s support might succeed,” the source said, adding that under the same strategy, the resignations of MQM ministers were not being accepted in the Centre or in Sindh.
He said the PPP leadership had also dropped the idea of appointing Dr Zulfiqar Mirza chief minister of Sindh, keeping in view that this would backfire on the reconciliation efforts.
The source said the MQM leadership was also avoiding taking a strong stance against the PPP-led coalition government and this was because the party was still weighing its options in the context of an alliance with the PML-N, as it also had bitter experiences with Nawaz Sharif’s past governments.
Acting Sindh Governor Nisar Khuhro has also hinted at the PPP’s strategy of telling the media that opposition benches in the Sindh Assembly would only be allotted to the MQM legislators after acceptance of their resignations.
The government’s refusal to accept the resignations has also affected the performance of the Sindh government as 11 out of the 14 MQM ministers were looking after important ministries, including the Health Ministry.
Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon said that the resignations by MQM ministers would be accepted within the next few days after removal of some technical hitches. As a confidence-building measure, both the PPP and MQM have already reached an understanding not to criticise each other. MQM leader and MNA Wasim Akhtar refused to comment on the issue “for the time being”.
The MQM had announced that it was quitting the ruling coalition and sitting on the opposition benches on June 27. The relationship between both parties, mainly hailing from Sindh, have not been smooth as the PPP represents rural Sindh while the MQM represents mainly urban areas of the province.
