KARACHI, Oct 28: The People’s Party Parliamentarians and Muttahida Qaumi Movement on Monday broached the “irritants” which had marred the resumption of a durable and lasting cooperative relationship between them, but failed to make any headway.
Sources said the MQM had urged the PPP to come up with its point of view on the draft it had provided for removing the irritants and addressing its concerns.
According to Dr Farooq Sattar, another round of talks was expected on Tuesday.
The MQM draft, sources said, included public regrets about the past excesses, including extrajudicial killings, to satisfy the MQM electorate.
During the meeting, the PPP proposed to set up a four-member committee to meet the MQM’s five-member committee to remove impediments. The PPP committee comprised Nisar Khuhro, Syed Qaim Ali, Nabil Gabol, and N.D. Khan. The MQM side is composed of Aftab Shaikh, Nasreen Jaleel, Shaikh Liaquat Hussain, Dr Farooq Sattar, and Shoaib Bokhari.
PPP chief Makhdoom Amin Fahim had offered the olive branch to the MQM when he visited the Nine Zero and held talks spanning about 45 minutes.
“We want to bury the hatchet and strive for cooperative relations with dignity by forgetting the past because we all have to live and die here,” Mr Fahim said after the talks.
Mr Fahim, who was accompanied even by those who were opposed to have any truck with the MQM and who those who were not members of the party, did not say much, as he was in a hurry to catch a plane which he ultimately missed.
The deputy convener of the Muttahida’s coordination committee, Aftab Shaikh, acknowledged that the PPP and the MQM, representing aspirations of the people of Sindh, were two entities to be reckoned with. He also cited a recent statement of MQM convener Dr Imran Farooq that in view of their mandate the PPP and MQM could be natural allies.
Mr Shaikh said that during the talks the two sides had touched upon some of the “irritants” and agreed to resolve them.
While the MQM’s complaints about the past were justifiable, their lukewarm attitude towards the PPP’s efforts to bridge the gap was seen as a naive approach, which could be detrimental to the interest of people, insiders said. Sources said that similar approach in the past, by both sides, had done far greater damage to the people of urban areas.
When the MQM side raised its concerns, the PPP members emphasized that the fact Mr Fahim had himself come to the Nine Zero and offered to make a fresh beginning by burying the past, should be acknowledged as manifestation of good intent. It was stressed that the need of the hours was to forget the past.