April 05, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 27, 1429

LARKANA, April 4: Dr Farooq Sattar of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement said here on Friday that his party’s ongoing negotiations with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) would bridge the rural-urban divide in Sindh.

Dr Sattar, who led an MQM delegationto Garhi Khuda Bux to attend the observance of the 29th death anniversary of PPP founder Z.A. Bhutto, said that talks with PPP did not mean that MQM was joining the government.

He said his party was ready to sit with any political party which had “the will and the vision” to save the country.

About MQM’s stance on Article 58(2)b of the Constitution and other controversial legislations, he said his party would decide on the issues ‘over the course of time’.

He said if a political party wanted to bury the hatchet, and negotiate with MQM, it would be welcomed but if that party had a “long list of reservations”, the MQM too had an equally lengthy list. “But it is better not to open a Pandora’s Box.”

The MQM had not yet decided if it would sit in the opposition, he said.

Dr Sattar was accompanied by Sardar Ahmed, a former provincial minister.

The MQM delegation, which included MNAs and MPAs, first visited the Naudero House and offered condolences to Ms Faryal Talpur over the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and exchanged views on various issues.

Later the delegation visited the mausoleum of Z.A. Bhutto amid tight security. Dr Shafqat Soomro and Agha Siraj Durrani, two close aides of Asif Ali Zardari, accompanied the delegation.

They laid floral wreaths at the graves of late Z.A. Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto and offered Fateha.