KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Monday claimed to have ‘almost finalised’ their seat adjustment deal and said that a formal announcement would be made by their top leadership in a couple of days.

An MQM-P delegation, led by senior leader Aminul Haq, visited the city headquarters of the PML-N and held what they called the ‘seventh and final’ round of talks in less than two months to finalise their electoral strategy, mainly focusing Karachi.

Rana Mashhood, a senior PML-N leader who landed in Karachi on Sunday to lead talks with the MQM-P from his party’s side, sounded confident as he said that “despite a few issues on a few things” the two sides had come close to a consensual deal.

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“We have agreed on almost every issue and things are moving in a positive way,” he said while talking to reporters after his meeting with the MQM-P delegation. “We have agreed to bring down the rule of corruption and incompetence of the last 15 years which had ruined Karachi and other parts of Sindh.”

NA-242 remains the bone of contention between two parties

He said the teams of PML-N and MQM-P had done their jobs and held seven sessions which had addressed all micro details of the alliance and now the top leaderships of the two parties would look into their proposals and announce the agreement.

Sharing similar thoughts, Mr Haq of the MQM-P said that the alliance of the two parties was more than seat adjustment and electoral alliance as his party had principally agreed to support the PML-N for the next federal government.

“And this alliance of the two parties and few others actually looks for wide range of targets. We believe that if we continue with the same spirit, this alliance would be forming government in Sindh as well,” he added.

The sources, however, said that the two parties had come closer to finalise the deal but NA-242 remained the bone of contention between both sides as PML-N insisted to field Shehbaz Sharif whereas MQM-P wanted its senior leader Mustafa Kamal to contest the polls from the same constituency.

“However, there are indications which suggest that the MQM-P may accept the PML-N’s demand and withdraw its candidate,” said a source privy to the details of the talks between the two sides.

“The MQM-P has already offered its support to the PML-N in three other NA constituencies of Karachi — two from Malir and one in Lyari. However, the party [MQM-P] has categorically conveyed that it would not show any compromise in NA-240 where the PML-N wants Owais Noorani of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan to contest,” the source said.

Similarly, he said, the MQM-P would also not withdraw from NA-243, where the PML-N wanted to field Akhtar Jadoon, a former Sindh minister and PPP leader, who recently joined Nawaz Sharif’s party.

“The MQM-P has already agreed over three Sindh Assembly seats from Karachi and it’s hoped that it would further show some flexibility over the same number of seats at the final announcement,” added the source.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2024