ISLAMABAD: The government and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) continued their talks on Tuesday on the formation of “Grievances Redressal Committee (GRC)” and agreed to wait for the return of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to the country to give a final shape to proposals about composition and functions of the committee.

Sources told Dawn that an MQM delegation led by Dr Farooq Sattar had proposed the names of retired judges and former army officers and bureaucrats and members of civil society for the GRC aimed at addressing the grievances of the MQM over alleged victimisation of the party in the Rangers-led operation against criminals in Karachi.

Receiving the names and proposals, the government team led by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told the MQM leaders that they would respond to these after consultations with the prime minister on his return from Kazakhstan.

The prime minister is scheduled to return on Wednesday night which means that the next round of talks would be held on Thursday.

When contacted, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid, a member of the government’s negotiating team, confirmed that the MQM had submitted some proposals which would be put before the prime minister. He declined to give details about the MQM’s proposals, saying that it was not appropriate for him to do so being a member of the negotiating team.

“Talks are being held in a good atmosphere and progress has also been made,” Farooq Sattar told Dawn. He expressed the hope that the next round of talks would be final.

Legal experts Barrister Zafarullah Khan and Ashtar Ausaf were also part of the government team. The MQM delegation included Farooq Sattar, Waseem Akhtar and Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif. Tuesday’s talks were held at Punjab House.

The MQM had agreed to reconsider its decision of quitting the legislatures after the government assured it that a committee would be formed to address the party’s grievances.

The announcement came after the MQM leaders met the prime minister and then held a series of meetings with the government team on Monday facilitated by JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

Sources in the government and the MQM told Dawn that the prime minister had categorically told the Muttahida leaders that their demand for a monitoring committee to oversee the Karachi operation could not be met because the operation was being carried out under the supervision of an elected government in Sindh.

According to the sources, Mr Sharif was of the opinion that in the presence of the apex committee there was no need for any such committee. But he agreed to form a committee to receive complaints from political parties across the country in connection with the operations being carried out by the army and Rangers against terrorists and criminal elements.

Talking to reporters on Monday night, Ishaq Dar had indicated that the committee would have larger scope and its working would not be limited to Karachi when he said any party could approach the GRC with its grievances.

When asked if the MQM had dropped its original demand, a senior MQM leader said that during talks one had to adopt a “give and take policy”. He said the party wanted the formation of a committee before which they could raise issues like “victimisation of the party at the hands of Rangers, enforced disappearances and target killing of its workers and ban on live telecast of speeches of MQM chief Altaf Hussain”.

“We will see the action of the committee on our complaints and we always have the option to reject it and come out of the assemblies again if we feel that the committee is unable to redress our grievances,” he added.

In a related development, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Khur­shid Ahmed Shah of the PPP opposed the MQM’s demand for formation of the monitoring committee. Talking to reporters, he said the operation in Karachi should continue.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2015

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