ISLAMABAD: Reacting harshly to the latest call by MQM chief Altaf Hussain for dividing Sindh into two provinces, PPP Co-chairman Asif Zardari has termed his politics destructive for his party.

“Issuing non-serious statements and act of levelling false allegations on a daily basis does not behove him (Mr Hussain),” the former president said in a statement on Saturday.

The statement was issued by the PPP’s media office in Islamabad in response to the MQM chief’s telephonic address at a party gathering in Azizabad on Friday. The MQM supremo said that if the Centre could not give Karachi its rights, the city should be declared a province.

Maulana Fazl seems to be no longer interested in holding negotiations with Muttahida

He mentioned the name of Mr Zardari, saying he had always showed “patience” even though the PPP leader had “deceived me” twice and “abused me” through his party office-bearers.

Mr Zardari alleged that it was the MQM which had always violated the agreements and deceived PPP.

He claimed that PPP had always talked to the MQM on two conditions that there would be no discussion on the division of Sindh and that the party would cooperate with the Muttahida in its efforts to make Karachi a peaceful city.

The PPP leader advised the MQM chief to avoid issuing “unnecessary statements” and “delivering unnecessary speeches”. He urged the MQM to enter the mainstream and work for the welfare and development of Pakistan and Sindh.

GOVT-MQM TALKS: Mean­while, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman seems to be no more interested in continuing his role as a mediator between the government and the MQM beca­use he is unhappy with both sides.

Sources in the JUI-F said the Maulana was unhappy with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for unnecessarily delaying the formation of the agreed committee and he was also not happy with the MQM’s decision to back off from the dialogue without informing him and for putting up three new demands.

The sources said that PML-N wanted to once again engage Maulana Fazl in the efforts to bring the MQM back to the negotiating table, but the JUI-F leader told them that he would take a decision after consulting his party’s central Shoora. A JUI-F member told Dawn that the Maulana also had the feelings that the PM was unable to fulfil his commitment to form the Grievances Redressal Committee due to some “unexplained reasons.”

When contacted, JUI-F spokesman Jan Achakzai said that any decision on playing the role of a mediator would be announced only by the Maulana himself.

He said the JUI-F chief would make an announcement after holding consultations with the Central Shoora in Peshawar on Sunday.

The MQM’s coordination committee came up with a prompt reply to Mr Zardari’s accusations, calling his remarks a “failed attempt to play Sindh card in order to put life into the PPP’s dead body”.

It accused the PPP co-chairman of trying to gain the Sindhis’ sympathies by alleging that the MQM was talking about division of Sindh. “In fact, the PPP, and not the MQM, has divided Sindh on the basis of urban and rural through the quota system.”

The committee said: “Had the PPP treated the urban and rural areas equally, there would have been no demand for a new province.”

It alleged that it was PPP’s own “People’s Amn Committee” that had destroyed peace in Karachi whereas the MQM had itself called for an operation for restoration of peace.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who is heading the government’s team for talks with the MQM, said he had not recently talked to Maulana Fazl but had come to know that the JUI-F chief was “disappointed” over the MQM’s “sudden decision” to pull out of the dialogue.

Mr Dar denied the MQM’s allegation that the prime minister was powerless and seeking directives from “some other quarters”. He said it was a “matter of misinterpretation” as the government had categorically told the Muttahida that it would make no compromise on the issue of ongoing operation in Sindh.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2015

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