.:: SAMAA - PPP contacts Sindh nationalist parties

Staff Report

KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has started contacting nationalists parties of Sindh after the ruling party's relations with their ally Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) seemed to be getting tense.

According to sources, Interior Minister Sindh Dr Zulfiqar Mirza has contacted Chairman Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mohaz Basheer Qureshi whereas Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah has asked the party leaders to take nationalist parties into confidence to deal with any upcoming situation. Senior leader of PPP Taj Hieder has also said that all the recommendations of Sindh's nationalist parties will be considered.

The sources said that PPP is preparing a new strategy to deal with any situation caused by sudden decisions of its allies.

Furthermore, Sindh government has also demanded Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chauhdry to take notice of the cases against MQM. The Sindh home minister urged the chief justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the cases closed under the NRO in Sindh and order their investigation. He said all cases should be reopened. He said on the wishes of Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf, Karachi was blocked on May 12 to prevent Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry from coming here. He alleged killings took place on that day under “official patronage”.

According to the MQM, their relations with PPP started getting tense after it took a principal stand and rejected the NRO.

Earlier, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said the provincial government had taken strong notice to switching off the street lights during the video speech of President Asif Zardari to the party’s 43rd foundation rally near the mausoleum of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah on Wednesday evening.

POLITICAL PARTIES REJECT NRO

Earlier different political parties rejected the NRO. Some of the reactions are as follows:

MQM: There are no corruption cases on the leaders and activists Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Haider Abbas Rizvi told SAMAA. MQM has always faced the cases. We are prepared to face our cases in the courts and we also advise to all the beneficiaries of NRO to face the courts, he added.

PML-N: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's (PML-N) Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal told SAMAA that PML-N have faced the cases. Therefore, we also advise Pakistan People's Party leaders to resign from their posts and face the cases in the courts, he added.

Punjab chief minister's advisor and former bureaucrat Saeed Mehdi resigned after his name was published among NRO beneficiaries. He tendered his resignation during the meeting of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. Mian Nawaz Sharif presided over the meeting.

Mehdi was alleged to be involved in corruption as a chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA). He rejected all the allegations against him as baseless. Mehdi said that he will not get any government position until his name is cleared out of such allegations.

PML-Q: Pakistan Muslim league-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Mushahid Hussain told SAMAA that there is no one in the PML-Q who had been benefited from NRO. The government must sacrifice and the NRO beneficiary ministers must resign and face their cases in the courts, he added.

ANP: Haji Adeel, leader of Awami National Party said that there were many cases on the politicians who had not been proved since long and many of the politicians had faced imprisonment for years. It was the responsibility of the courts to decide cases immediately, he added. SAMAA