ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif tasked Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Thursday with the assignment of persuading lawmakers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) to withdraw the resignations they had submitted to chairman of the Senate and speakers of the National and Sindh assemblies a day earlier.

Maulana Fazl accepted the task in principle, but said he would first consult legal and constitutional experts to find out if the resignations could be withdrawn at this stage.

Facing a serious crisis because of the resignations tendered by MQM legislators, Mr Sharif spent two hours discussing with his ministers and advisers ways in which the issue could be resolved.

In the morning, Mr Sharif discussed the possible ramifications of the acceptance of the resignations with his party colleagues and advisers. And in the afternoon, he shared his party’s viewpoint on the matter with leaders of the other parties represented in the parliament during a meeting in the parliament house.

Sources said that at both the meetings the visibly worried prime minister underlined the need to quickly solve the problem.

“During the two meetings the prime minister seemed to be under stress and even expressed his unhappiness over the unusual alacrity with which the (National Assembly) speaker sought to verify the resignations,” one of the sources told Dawn.

According to a PML-N leader, Mr Sharif is worried that if the resignations are accepted, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan may spring a surprise, especially because the latter is yet to return to the National Assembly following the announcement of judgment of the poll inquiry commission.

That was why Mr Sharif urged his party colleagues as well as heads of the other parties to make efforts to end the crisis as soon as possible, he said.

Mr Sharif even suggested that Maulana Fazl should travel to London to meet MQM chief Altaf Hussain if he felt the need to do so.

Another source said that with Mr Hussain openly expressing hostility towards the military leadership, the prime minister had been left with few options to address the MQM’s grievances.

“I don’t think the government is going to use the option of forming a judicial commission to probe the accusations against Sindh Rangers. Maybe an oversight committee for Karachi operation will be set up with MQM as its member,” the source said.

During the morning meeting, Mr Sharif was informed that there were some legal loopholes which could be explored to delay or reject the resignations, as the government did in the case of PTI’s resignations. For example, the clause regarding individual verification of the resignations could be used.

The entire top leadership of the PML-N attended the meeting. Those who were present included Leader of the House in the Senate Raja Zafarul Haq, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Finance Minster Ishaq Dar, Information Minister Pervez Rashid, Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, special assistants to the prime minister Irfan Siddiqui, Ashtar Ausaf and Tariq Fatemi and prime minister’s political secretary Dr Asif Kirmani.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Siddiqui said the prime minister had reiterated that all elected representatives of the people had the right to play their role inside the parliament and “to protect this right we will try our best to bring the MQM leaders back to the parliament, as the government successfully did in case of PTI”.

This was the unanimous decision taken at the two meetings, he added.

In reply to a question, Mr Siddiqui said the prime minister had asked the JUI-F chief to contact Mr Hussain. “Let’s see what he has in mind.”

However, he clarified that at both the meetings it was agreed that the Karachi operation would continue.

Mr Siddiqui said Maulana Fazl had lately been in contact with the MQM leadership. This was primarily the reason for the prime minister requesting the Maulana to use his good offices for the purpose.

The information minister said the government’s immediate goal was to persuade the MQM legislators to withdraw their resignations. “Once this is agreed, we are willing to listen to their grievances.”

In a statement, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah urged the speaker to refrain from accepting the resignations in haste. He requested the government to take every possible step to bring the MQM legislators back to the house.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2015

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