Govt-MQM talks deadlocked

Published September 4, 2015

ISLAMABAD: After 21 days of back and forth, negotiations between the government and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) hit a major roadblock on Thursday after the latter announced that it would stay away from talks until its demands were met.

A meeting between MQM leaders and government-appointed mediator Maulana Fazlur Rehman was to be held on Thursday evening. But hours before the meeting the MQM pulled out.

MQM leaders believe that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was helpless to address their grievances, which raised serious doubts about the Sindh Rangers’ current operations in Karachi which they said was originally supposed to be against terrorists and criminals. The MQM demanded that the government should accept their legislators’ resignations in both the national and Sindh assemblies.

“We have pulled out of the talks and demand that our resignations be accepted,” Farooq Sattar, the head of the MQM negotiating team, told Dawn.


Farooq Sattar says PM doesn’t appear to be ‘calling the shots’


He confirmed that the MQM had asked the government to accept at least three of their “genuine demands”, which include lifting a ban on its political, welfare and charity-related activities and allowing the broadcast of MQM’s self-exiled chief Altaf Hussain.

“At this stage, we are prepared to drop our demands regarding the prevention of extra-judicial killings of MQM workers, the recovery of over 150 missing party workers and arrest of MQM leaders’ killers, but it is our right to continue our charity and welfare programmes, political activities and ensure that our chief can address party workers and leaders,” he said.

Mr Sattar hinted that the MQM could come back to the negotiating table if it was allowed to continue its political activities and no raid would be conducted on its offices. “We want to know that how many MQM people are wanted by the Rangers because they pick anyone without informing the party leadership,” he added.

During a meeting with the PM, the MQM got an impression that he was helpless in addressing the party’s grievances. “We think that the decisions are being made somewhere else,” he said.

He said the MQM had been barred from collecting hides of sacrificial animals on Eidul Azha, as well as other charity and welfare-related activities.

When asked why, being a political party the MQM collected animal hides, Dr Sattar said: “We do so because the money generated by their sale is utilised for different welfare activities, such as the provision of monetary assistance to martyrs’ families, etc.”

Separately, Prime Minister’s spokesman Musaddik Malik tried to dispel a perception that the Rangers were not under the command of the federal government, and that they were conducting operations in Karachi directly under the supervision of the military establishment. “There is complete democracy in the country and the government and the military establishment are not trying to trump each other. We are on the same page,” he said in a private TV programme.

He also claimed that the government was ready to meet the MQM’s demands and it was possible that law enforcement agencies had exceeded their constitutional limits. “In such circumstances, it is natural that the affected segments of society or political parties gather and raise their voice,” he added.

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman accused the government of not fulfilling the commitments made with him and the MQM during the talks. “Give me a legal way so that I can adopt political means to resolve the issue,” he asked the government.

He said the government had agreed to form a Grievance Redressal Committee to address the MQM’s demands and a draft notification had been prepared, but the government suddenly backed out.

The Maulana said the government had adopted double standards as in one case it tried its best to bring an annoyed political party back to parliament – referring to the PTI – but in the MQM’s case, it appeared as if the government wanted to throw them out.

Talking about the postponement of his meeting with MQM leaders, he said: “I talked to MQM leaders in the afternoon and they agreed to meet. But around 5pm the MQM suddenly cancelled the meeting.”

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2015

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