August 18, 2008	Monday	Sha'aban 15, 1429

LONDON, Aug.17: Tariq Aziz, a close confidant of President Pervez Musharraf is arriving here on Monday to meet MQM chief Altaf Hussain ostensibly to try to woo him back to the president’s camp in the impending impeachment battle.

The MQM international secretariat neither denied nor confirmed the report but asked Dawn to call on Monday for any further information in this regard.

The party’s MPAs in the Sindh provincial assembly did not attend the Aug 13 session of the assembly in which a resolution against President Musharraf was passed unanimously.

Unconfirmed reports circulating here said that the MQM had boycotted the session on the understanding that its senior partner in the Sindh government, the PPP, would ensure that the president would be saved from any post-impeachment embarrassment, provide him ‘safe passage’ and also ensure that he would not be held accountable for his actions as president in any court of law by the government or any individual.

The MQM chief and his British hosts reportedly feel that it would not serve Pakistan’s interest to humiliate a person who had been the country’s president for nearly nine years.

But Gen (retd) Musharraf is said to be so angry with the MQM chief that he has not been taking his calls since August 13.

However, Musharraf is now reported to have realised

that the political aspects of the impeachment process was also as important (if not more) as the legal aspects and decided to ensure that he would have enough votes in his hands to defeat the impeachment move.

Therefore, he decided to seek assurance from Mr Hussain that MQM votes in parliament would be on his side when the time would come for everyone to stand and be counted.

Interestingly, two prominent MQM leaders, Mohammad Anwer and Saleem Shahzad were seen at the Independence Day reception at the High Commission on August 14.

Confirming that this was the first ever visit of any important leader from the MQM to the Pakistani mission here, Mr Anwer told Dawn that they were never invited to such occasions by the previous high commissioners. “We are here because Wajid Sahib invited us,” he said.

Dr Asim Mehmood, the NRB chief who is said to be a close friend of both Mr Hussain and Mr Zardari, had accompanied the two MQM leaders to the reception.

Dr Mehmood is said to have played a crucial role in bringing the PPP and the MQM together in the Sindh government.