ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s ‘habit’ of rushing to put out political fires on his own and all by himself is being resented by his PPP colleagues, especially those hailing from the areas concerned.
His latest “solo fire-fighting mission” to Karachi in the wake of a fresh wave of target killings has left several senior party leaders from Sindh fuming because, like in the past, they were not consulted.
A number of senior legislators from Sindh complained that they were never consulted on matters relating to the political and law and order situation in their province, particularly in Karachi.
“I am an MNA from Karachi, but I do not know what kind of an agreement my party has reached with the MQM,” said a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) lawmaker.
He criticised Mr Malik for trying to single-handedly handle the Karachi situation.
He admitted that Mr Malik must have been asked by President Asif Zardari to play this role and hold talks with leaders of the Muttahida Quami Movement and Awami National Party in Karachi.
“However, I believe President Zardari would not have stopped him from taking other PPP members along with him while holding talks with other parties.”
Most people in the PPP do not have faith in Mr Malik’s political acumen and say that there is no dearth of seasoned and experienced political leaders in the party who can handle the situation more deftly.
Some of them claim that the PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto had never given an important political assignment to Mr Malik.
It was only during behind-the-scene talks with representatives of former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf in London and Dubai that Mr Malik represented the PPP in some kind of political negotiations.
Another PPP office-bearer accused Mr Malik of trying to go for a solo flight in every matter.
While the interior minister’s role in Karachi was understandable because of the law and order situation, his participation in political wheeling and dealing with other parties like the JUI-F and the PML-N and his recent talks with religious leaders and Ulema on the blasphemy law and other controversial matters was questionable, he said.
The PPP leader said it was surprising to see Mr Malik holding political negotiations with coalition partners, especially when the party had seasoned politicians and parliamentarians in Sindh like Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Syed Khurshid Shah, Naveed Qamar, Raza Rabbani and Aftab Shaaban Mirani.
Similarly in Punjab, he said, the party had people like Jahangir Badr, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar and Qasim Zia who could deal with the PML-N and the PML-Q better than Mr Malik and Law Minister Babar Awan.
Some PPP MNAs even raised their voice on the floor of the National Assembly recently over the party’s handling of the Karachi situation and the role of the interior minister.
When contacted, PPP information secretary Fauzia Wahab, who also is from Karachi, admitted that they had come to know about Mr Malik’s meetings with MQM leaders and a delegation of Ulema in Karachi on Saturday through the media and no one from PPP’s provincial leadership had any prior information.
Ms Wahab said she did not remember any meeting of the central executive committee or any other forum of the party where Mr Malik had been officially assigned the role of a trouble-shooter by the leadership.
“I don’t know,” was her reply when asked if Mr Malik was acting on the directives of the president or the prime minister. Despite repeated attempts, the interior minister could not be contacted for his comments.
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