ISLAMABAD: The government continued its efforts on Friday to persuade the MQM leadership to review its decision of resigning from the two houses of parliament and Sindh Assembly.

But the two sides have yet to break the ice. Instead, the MQM described the arrest of party workers in Karachi’s Landhi area on the eve of Independence Day as “throwing a spanner in whatever efforts are being made to resolve the crisis”.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told Dawn that he had a meeting with JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who had been requested by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to hold talks with the MQM leadership.

“I have been informed by the JUI-F chief that he has talked to MQM’s parliamentary leader Farooq Sattar and conveyed to him the government’s desire that Mutta­hida lawmakers withdraw their resignations, but has yet to receive a response,” he said.

According to the JUI-F chief, Senator Dar said, Mr Sattar had informed Altaf Hussain about a consensus reached between the government and parliamentary parties during a mee­t­ing on Thursday that “MQM must come back and play its role in the parliament house”.

Asked what the government could offer to address the MQM’s grievances against Rangers and other law enforcement agencies, he said: “Anything which the government can offer within the law of the land.”

Asked for a more precise answer, the minister said the setting up of an oversight com­­mi­ttee on the ongoing Karachi operation was a fair demand.

But in the same breath, Senator Dar, who had played a key role in reaching a consensus with the PTI on the constitution of a poll inquiry commission and bringing Imran Khan’s party back to the National Assembly, said: “Whatever the MQM dema­nds and the government off­ers in response, due process of law must take its course.”

Despite repeated attempts neither Maulana Fazl nor his spokesperson was available for comment on the matter. But talking to Dawn, Dr Farooq Sattar sounded worried and complained about arrest of MQM workers.

“The arrest of 12 MQM workers, of them seven from Landhi area, by law-enforcers on the day of independence sends a very clear message to us that there is no change of heart on the government side towards my party,” he said. “I have informed Senator Dar about the arrest of my workers and the consequences it can have on the government’s efforts to woo my party back to the parliament house.”

The arrest of MQM workers clearly suggests who actually is calling the shots in Karachi.

In reply to a question about demands the party intended to attach to the decision of withdrawal of resignations, Mr Sattar said 19 reasons that he had explained on the floor of the house as cause of resignations also carried his party’s demands. “The main issues for the MQM at the moment are disappearances and extra-judicial killings of its workers,” he said.

A high-powered judicial commission, constitution of a monitoring committee to oversee the Karachi operation and assurances that “excesses against Muttahida workers” won’t be repeated were some of the steps Dr Sattar listed that could lead to “meaningful talks” with the government.

Senator Dar made it clear that there would be no compromise as far as the Karachi operation was concerned.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2015

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