DR Arbab Ghulam Rahim is proud of saying that he talks first and thinks later. But it seems that he does not bother to think about what he has said even after uttering nonsense. Otherwise, he would not have persisted in speaking ill about Benazir Bhutto even after her assassination.

This propensity to speak without weighing his words coupled with his strong-arm tactics against the Pakistan People`s Party had embittered PPP workers who are alienated from the politician from Thar. These feelings were vented in the first session of the new Sindh Assembly during which Arbab left the House without taking the oath to save himself from the wrath of the activists. In the second session of the assembly, he had to face more humiliation.

The episode provided the Muttahida Qaumi Movement with a reason to resort to an indefinite boycott of the assembly. Earlier, a rare reconciliation was witnessed between the PPP and the MQM as the latter announced unconditional support for the former in government formation at the national level. Unlike other pro-Musharraf parties like the PML-Q, the MQM voted for Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, the PPP candidate for the slot of prime minister.

To take the process of reconciliation to Sindh, PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari visited the MQM headquarters popularly known as Nine Zero. Despite opposition from all the PPP MPAs and the party cadre from Karachi to the idea of including the MQM in the provincial government, he persuaded his party to take the MQM on board. Thus the PPP-MQM negotiations on government formation in Sindh started but only to end in a deadlock soon because of, according to press reports, the MQM demand for no change of governor and some important ministries.

Then came the Arbab episode which led the MQM to boycott the Sindh Assembly session when Syed Qaim Ali Shah was to seek the vote of confidence as chief minister and his subsequent oath-taking. To make things worse, the thrashing of the former minister for law and parliamentary affairs, Sher Afgan Niazi, in Lahore provoked a reaction not only in his native Mianwali, but, surprisingly, in Karachi too, and a very violent one. It was May 12 on a smaller scale.

In this way, the nascent Sindh government has been trapped in a quagmire during its very initial days. How will it deal with this situation? Perhaps by employing a two-pronged strategy.

The chief minister, yet without a cabinet, says that the perpetrators of the April 9 violence, two of whom have been arrested with arms, would be dealt with strictly. Kingmaker Zardari has, according to TV reports, contacted MQM chief Altaf Hussain via telephone. Both have apparently agreed on a `reasonable` formula for power-sharing in Sindh.

A question doing the rounds in Sindh`s political circles is why despite having a clear majority at the centre (with allies like the PML-N, the Awami National Party and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F) and Sindh, the PPP (or Mr Zardari) seems to be keen on taking the MQM along. The official party line is that it is a manifestation of Benazir Bhutto`s policy of national reconciliation.

But political analysts believe that Mr Zardari is striving to make new allies to free his party from the pressure that the PML-N is exerting on it. If this is true, then Mr Zardari is inching towards President Pervez Musharraf`s camp. This is also obvious from Mr Zardari`s stand on the restoration of the deposed judges of the superior courts, particularly Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

In a meeting of the PPP central executive committee on the eve of the death anniversary of its founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Mr Zardari reportedly snubbed the leader of the lawyers` movement, Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, by saying “Don`t try to dictate to me on the issue of the restoration of the judges. They are the very judges who made me languish in prison for years.”

And Mr Zardari believes in action, not mere talk. PPP leader Babar Awan is reportedly approaching lawyers affiliated with the PPP to convince them to abandon the lawyers` movement if Justice Chaudhry is not reinstated.

This `minus one` formula must be to the liking of President Musharraf who had declared May 12 a show of public strength and who has, in the backdrop of Wednesday`s violence, warned lawyers to refrain from creating chaos.

So, lawyers, beware! No more burning your own colleagues to death. No more firing on Karachi streets in the garb of civilians. The (retired) general is not alone.