ISLAMABAD: In a bid to formulate a strategy to bring peace to Karachi, the political troika of the coalition government — President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain — met at the Presidency on Monday night and decided to take the MQM on board for a political solution.
The meeting decided to send Interior Minister Rehman Malik to Karachi to hold meetings with all the political parties on the issue.
The meeting is important as it was held at a time when the government and the main opposition PML-N came against each other and it was the first time that Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani adopted a harsh tone against the PML-N. Interestingly, Interior Minister Rehman Malik was being sent to Karachi at a time when a debate on the Karachi situation was to be kick-started in the National Assembly today (Tuesday). Sources said there was an agreement between the coalition partners to remove reservations of the MQM leadership.
It was also agreed that the Sindh government should remove the concerns of MQM on the local government system in the province. “Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain asked the president to play his role as an elder and help bridge the differences between leaders of different mainstream parties of Sindh,” sources said.
They said it was also decided that the PML-N would not be given an opportunity to take political mileage from the Karachi situation and efforts be expedited to bring the MQM back into the coalition government by removing all its reservations.
Official announcement of the Presidency about the meeting, however, restricted itself to just stating that issues related to coalition parties in parliament today, the current political situation, coalition matters and law and order situation in Karachi were discussed at the meeting.
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