PPP, MQM-P agree to work together ‘in country’s wider interest’

Islamabad: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) have agreed to work together “in the larger interest of the country.”

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and former president Asif Ali Zardari held a meeting with an MQM-P delegation at Zardari House in Islamabad today, a statement from the PPP Media Cell said.

Other PPP leaders part of the meeting included former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah, Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani, PPP leader Sharjeel Memon and others.

The MQM-P delegation included senior party leader Amir Khan, party’s convener Khalid Maqbool, Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haq, former Karachi mayor Wasim Akhtar and others.

The leadership of both parties discussed the political situation in the country and agreed to work together in the “wider interest of the country”.

Sources told The Express Tribune that Zardari, during the meeting, conceded that all reservations of MQM were genuine. “We acknowledge MQM’s mandate and stake in urban Sindh,” he was quoted as saying.

The former president promised to provide the support and assistance required from the Sindh government for the development of urban Sindh.

Sources said that the former president also sought support from MQM-P over the no-confidence motion. However, the government ally did not give any definite answer, stating that it will make a decision during the meeting of the party’s coordination committee after consulting the workers.

The development comes at a time when the joint-opposition has moved a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly against PM Imran.

A day after the joint opposition submitted the motion, PM Imran flew in to Karachi for a daylong visit in an effort to woo the coalition parties from Sindh – the MQM-P and the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA).

This was Imran’s first visit to MQM-P head office in Bahadurabad since becoming the prime minister. He was accompanied by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Federal Minister Ali Zaidi and Sindh Governor Imran Ismail.

During the meeting, the prime minister was assured of MQM-P’s ‘full support’, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in a statement issued in Karachi. The prime minister’s meeting with the MQM-P leadership in Karachi was very fruitful,” he added.

“Both parties discussed political issues in detail and finalised a workable strategy for the future [against the backdrop of no-trust motion]. The MQM is our ally and both parties have been supporting each other. The MQM leadership expressed full confidence in the prime minister,” Qureshi added.

The sources revealed that for the time being, the MQM-P had decided to adopt a wait-and-watch policy. They added that if the government asked them for their help on the issue of no-confidence motion, the party would hold consultation with its coordination committee before taking its final decision.