ISLAMABAD: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has succeeded in persuading the government and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) to hold direct talks on issues which led to the resignation of Muttahida legislators.

Talking to reporters after meeting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif here on Wednesday, the Maulana said the talks between the MQM and the premier or his nominated team would be held in Islamabad in a few days.

“I have put all the issues raised by the MQM before the prime minister and his response was positive,” said the JUI-F chief who had returned to Islamabad from Karachi on Tuesday evening after holding talks with MQM leaders at the party’s Nine Zero headquarters.

When contacted, MQM’s parliamentary leader in the National Assembly Dr Farooq Sattar confirmed that the Maulana had called him after his meeting with the prime minister and informed about the government’s willingness to hold direct talks with the party.

Muttahida demands security for its leaders and lawmakers

“We are ready for it, but at the moment we can’t give the schedule for our Islamabad visit because we are busy in looking after Rashid Godil,” Dr Sattar said. Most probably, he added, the party would be able to say something on Thursday or Friday.

Rashid Godil was critically injured in an attack near his Bahadurabad residence in Karachi on Tuesday. The attack coincided with the meeting between MQM leaders and Maulana Fazl.

Answering a question, Dr Sattar denied that the MQM had handed over any formal demand to the JUI-F chief during the meeting. In fact, he added, the party had provided details of the 137 missing MQM activists as well as the “issues” the party was facing in Karachi in the ongoing operation, along with “their solutions”.

Maulana Fazl expressed the hope that the MQM would soon return to the assemblies because both sides had shown flexibility. He said the government wanted to see the MQM in the assemblies whereas the latter also was willing to continue to play its role in parliament. Therefore, he said, he was hopeful that the issues would be resolved soon.

The JUI-F chief said the progress in talks had been affected by the attack on Mr Godil.

In reply to a question, he said he did not think that the formation of a committee to monitor the Karachi operation should be a problem for the government. “It is not a big thing and I think the government will agree to it.”

He said the MQM was not against the operation but complained that one political party was being targeted.

Although Finance Minister Ishaq Dar also had been in direct contact with the MQM since the submission of resignations by its legislators, the prime minister asked the JUI-F chief to play the role of a mediator and try to bring them back to the assemblies.

According to an official handout issued by the Prime Minister’s House, Maulana Fazl apprised Mr Sharif of the progress in his talks with the MQM. It said the prime minister had praised the JUI-F chief for his role in connection with political harmony, stability and reconciliation.

The MQM legislators had submitted their resignations from the National Assembly, Senate and Sindh Assembly last week, citing reservations over the Rangers-led operation in Karachi.

SECURITY: Meanwhile, the MQM’s Coordination Committee has called upon the government to provide security to Muttahida leaders and lawmakers.

It said in a statement that the MQM leaders and legislators had been receiving threats and Tuesday’s attack on Mr Godil proved that their lives were under threat and they immediately needed security.

The committee also urged the government to take serious notice of the “arrests of our innocent workers”. “On the one hand, the MQM leaders are being attacked and, on the other, law-enforcement agencies are apprehending our workers, instead of arresting terrorists of banned organisations,” it regretted.

Our Staff Reporter in Karachi adds: The MQM said on Wednesday that efforts to bring its legislators back to parliament might not bear fruit if “illegal raids and arrests” and targeted killings of its workers were not stopped.

Addressing a press conference, MQM leader Mohammad Hussain also demanded strict action against “extremists and religious terrorists” in the city’s Orangi Town area.

He said the MQM lawmakers would not like to return to a parliament where no party was raising its voice for the security of life and property of the common man. He said the law and order situation in Karachi was worsening but police and Rangers were “illegally and without any reason” arresting MQM workers and supporters “in the name of the so-called operation”.

Mr Hussain said that over the past one and half years several Muttahida workers and supporters had been targeted by the “terrorists of banned outfits” in Orangi Town, but not one of the killers had been arrested.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2015

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