ISLAMABAD, May 27: The Sindh coalition tussle came to an end on Saturday as Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz announced that misunderstandings and differences between Chief Minister Dr Arbab Rahim and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) had been removed.
Flanked by the chief minister and some MQM leaders at a news conference, Mr Aziz said that the chief minister and the MQM had agreed to implement terms of their coalition in letter and in spirit.
The announcement follows five days of intense political talks and intervention by the prime minister and President Gen Pervez Musharraf.
The chief minister and the MQM leaders preferred to remain silent and when reporters tried to put some questions to them, the prime minister led them away.
Mr Aziz said that “misunderstandings and differences between the coalition partners had been removed” and the two sides had agreed to continue to work together for the betterment of the people of the province.
Earlier, a three-member MQM delegation, comprising federal Ports and Shipping Minister Babar Ghouri, Hyderabad nazim Kunwar Naveed Jamil and member of the party’s coordination committee Adil Siddiqui, had a meeting with President Musharraf.
Sources said that the president had directed the MQM leaders to resolve the issue as early as possible through negotiations.
The prime minister stressed the need for maintaining unity among the coalition partners so that they could contest next elections as a vibrant political force. He said when different parties formed a coalition, it functioned under a decided framework of understanding.
In reply to a question, Mr Aziz said the MQM had not demanded replacement of the chief minister. He replied in the affirmative when asked if the two sides had buried the hatchet.
Answering another question, he said trading allegations was “something normal when some misunderstandings existed”. He pointed out that powers of the chief minister was not an issue and said “the whole world knows what are the powers of a chief minister”.
He said there was nothing against the MQM in the report submitted to President Musharraf by National Security Council secretary Tariq Aziz on the issue.
During their five-day stay in the capital, the two sides had held several meetings with the NSC secretary, the prime minister and PML chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to apprise them about their concerns.
The MQM had been accusing the chief minister of damaging the party and creating ‘hurdles’ in the implementation of the development programme it had announced at the time of elections.
The MQM had alleged that the chief minister had not signed some 7,000 summaries sent to him by its ministers for approval. It also said that there were 42,000 posts lying vacant in Sindh and the chief minister had been using delaying tactics in announcing these vacancies.
However, the chief minister had been denying all the charges, saying that he was approving the summaries on merit.
APP adds: In reply to a question about ‘demands’ by the MQM, the prime minister said there were only “communication issues” which had now been resolved.
He said there might be difference of opinions in the coalition but added that all matters would be resolved amicably and through mutual understanding.
