KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain has asked President Asif Ali Zardari to give a ‘sacrifice’ and not table the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) in parliament in order to save democracy.

Well-placed sources told Dawn that Mr Hussain made the suggestion to President Zardari in a recent telephonic conversation. The MQM leader made it clear to the president that his party’s parliamentarians would not vote in favour of the NRO.

However, the MQM, which shares power at the federal and provincial levels with the PPP and is itself a beneficiary of the NRO, is still undecided whether to vote against the NRO or abstain from voting if the matter is brought to parliament.

The MQM coordination committee is set to announce a decision at a news conference on Tuesday.
The sources said Mr Hussain had also advised President Zardari to ask his colleagues to contest cases against them in courts of law as the NRO had become highly controversial in the eyes of the nation.

Earlier on Monday, a statement attributed to MQM chief Altaf Hussain during an interview with a private television channel suggesting President Zardari to quit office to save democracy caused quite a stir in the country.

Almost every television channel immediately aired the breaking news of Mr Hussain’s suggestion to the president. Even a London-based member of the MQM coordination committee, Mohammad Anwar, confirmed it. He told DawnNews that Mr Hussain had suggested to the president to resign so that democracy did not derail.

Hours later, an MQM spokesman and member of its coordination committee, Mustafa Azizabadi, denied that Mr Hussain had advised President Zardari to resign.

Also on Monday, the MQM’s parliamentary leader in the National Assembly, Dr Farooq Sattar, met Interior Minister Rehman Malik in Islamabad and informed him about his party’s stance on the NRO.

The sources said the MQM leader maintained that his party was ready to forfeit all benefits its workers had got due to the disposal of thousands of criminal cases after the promulgation of the NRO in Oct 2007.

They said that Dr Sattar urged the president’s point man not to table the NRO in the lower house as it would be impossible for his party to vote for it.

Mr Malik, the sources added, hinted to the MQM leader that the PPP was reconsidering its decision on NRO and there was a likelihood that the ordinance might not be tabled in parliament after all.