Islamabad: Karachi-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Thursday broke off negotiations with the government and demanded immediate acceptance of the resignations its federal and provincial lawmakers, tendered last month.
Announcing its withdrawal from the negotiations after a third round of talks, the head of the MQM’s negotiating team, Dr. Farooq Sattar, said the government was not serious about addressing the grievances of the party.
He said the resignations of MQM’s 51 members of Sindh Assembly, 24 members of National Assembly, and eight Senators should be accepted at once.
The lawmakers had resigned in protest of the alleged victimisation of party workers and supporters in the ongoing operating by paramilitary Rangers and police against crime, corruption and terrorist elements.
Reiterating basic demands of the party, Sattar said an “undeclared ban” on MQM’s welfare activities must be lifted and the party’s political offices should be allowed to function.
He said London-residing MQM chief Altaf Hussain’s statements should be allowed to be broadcast by electronic media.
Sattar said a joint meeting of MQM’s Rabitta (coordination) committees in Karachi and London was held on Wednesday night and it was decided that talks with the government were of no use.
He alleged that MQM was being pushed against the wall in the guise of the Karachi operation. “MQM faces an undeclared and unconstitutional ban on its political and welfare activities,” he said.
Sattar said all the political offices of MQM remain shut and its welfare wing, Khidmat- e-Khalq Foundation, was not being allowed to carry out its activities.
He said Hussain’s statements — both live and recorded — have been banned from going on air, which he termed an unconstitutional act.
“I ask the owners of electronic media outlets under whose instructions they have decided not to air Altaf Hussain’s statements.”
He said the government had failed to constitute a grievances redressed committee to address concerns over the “forced disappearance of 150 party workers, extrajudicial murders of 45 activists”, and other matters.
Sattar alleged that “baseless stories are being created to put MQM on a media trial,” adding that the party had been “politically victimised.”
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had launched the efforts to persuade MQM to withdraw the resignations in the interest of strengthening democracy in the country.
Late last year, lawmakers of opposition Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI), which is led by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, resigned, but their resignations were kept pending and they ultimately returned to the assemblies.
