KARACHI: Muttahida not averse to dialogue with MMA
By Our Reporter
KARACHI, Oct 25: In a surprise development, a top leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement on Friday hinted that his party was not averse to a dialogue with the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal.
“Our doors are open for negotiations with everyone”, said MQM deputy convener Aftab Shaikh, when asked if their was a possibility of the MQM being part of the ruling constellation in which the MMA is included.
He said: “Despite our bitter experience in the past, If we can hold negotiations with the PPP and the PML(Q), how can we refuse to talk to anyone who is willing to come and discuss things with us. We are a democratic party representing a vast majority.”
Mr Shaikh was analysing the post-election scenario, in which the MQM’s support has become crucial in the number game.
He said that the MMA had moderated its election stance and backtracked on Al-Qaeda, Kashmir and co-education, and its stand was now more akin to what the MQM had been preaching.
He was of the view that the way the independents were joining the PML(Q), and the way some sitting ministers had opted for that party’s ticket for the Senate, indicated the tilt and it seemed that they would be able to form a government at the centre.
Nevertheless, he said the coalition would not be enduring. “It will fall on the advice of the prime minister, and not by the use of discretionary powers by the President.”
He said the way the government had reacted to Maj-Gen Ahsan’s joining the PPP indicated the mindset of the regime which wanted no truck with that party.
He said that many in the MQM believed that the PPP-MQM government in Sindh would be enduring, but much would depend on the views expressed by the MQM supporters and on what shape emerged at the centre.
ALTAF: Chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Altaf Hussain, said on Friday that the party would take far-reaching decisions on the question of participating in the federal and provincial governments, in the light of the views of the supporters.
Addressing a general workers meeting at the Khidmat-i-Khalq Foundation, Mr Hussain said that apart from striving for political rights of the people, the MQM was working for providing education, health and water to the needy.
Lashing out at the religious parties, Mr Hussain said they had changed their pre-election stance which, he claimed, was owing to the growing acceptability of the MQM philosophy.
In that context, he referred to the moderation in the stand of the MMA in its pre-election stance vis-a-vis the USA, jihad and co-education.
He said that the mounting demand for eradication of feudalism and for provincial autonomy was reflective of the acceptability of the MQM’s ideals.
The Muttahida chief also directed party members to investigate who was involved in extortion in the name of the MQM. He said that if any member of the party was found involved in such an act, he should be expelled forthwith.
