ISLAMABAD: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad met President Asif Ali Zardari here on Tuesday for the second time in 10 days and finalised details of a new alliance between the PPP and MQM.

According to sources, the meeting decided that the Muttahida would rejoin the coalition government before Eidul Fitr.

“Our party will rejoin the government in phases and in the first phase three of our members will join the federal cabinet,” MQM leader Zahid Mehmood said. He said a meeting of the MQM Rabita Committee held on Monday had taken several decisions and, accordingly, Dr Ibad met President Zardari.

“The Rabita Committee will meet again on Wednesday, followed by an Iftar party in which leaders of the PPP have also been invited. It is expected that some important announcements will be made on the occasion,” Mr Mehmood said.

When contacted, president’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar confirmed that President Zardari had met the Sindh governor but no official handout was issued about the meeting.

But sources in the Presidency said the PPP and MQM had agreed that a consensus local government system would be introduced in Sindh.

President Zardari, who has been authorised by coalition partners to hold negotiations with the MQM, had met the Sindh governor on August 5 and invited the party to rejoin the government and assured it that all its demands would be met and grievances addressed.

The Sindh government rolled back the recently-enforced commissioner system and restored the Musharraf-era local government system in the province last week to bring the Muttahida back to the coalition government.

Mr Zardari apprised Dr Ibad of concerns expressed by Sindh nationalist parties and urged the MQM to support an LG system which would be acceptable to all. —Staff Reporter