The recent development in the ever-changing politics of Pakistan is the speculations of PPP-MQM coalition…yet again. With news of MQM chief Altaf Hussain advising Ishratul Ebad to resume his position as the Governor of Sindh, the wind seems to be blowing in favour of the ruling government of PPP. The ties between both the parties took a wrong turn when the Azad Kashmir elections were stalled in the Karachi constituencies LA-30, LA-36 and Abbotabad’s LA-41. The MQM had accused the government of snatching the rights of the Kashmiri people living in Karachi by postponing the elections.
As a result, MQM announced to sit in the opposition benches and resigned from the government’s coalition. This triggered a series of unreceptive wrangling between the two parties.The worst came when on July 13, Zulfiqar Mirza, a prominent Sindhi politician associated with PPP, lashed out at MQM’s chief Altaf Hussain and Ishratul Ebad as being truants and escapists and rebuked the ‘Urdu speaking’ people of wanting to dividing Sindh which won’t be allowed. This ignited a reign of severe revulsion in the city of Karachi as communal riots broke out in different parts o f the city and resulted in many innocent lives being taken.
But again, now that the PPP has effectively carried out the elections with MQM bagging both the Karachi seats, and Ishratul Ebad back in the office, all seems to be fine in the topsy-turvy world which is the politics of Pakistan, for now. All that you have to do is wait for the time that MQM publicly announces its return to the coalition benches in the Senate, because for now it has decided to uphold its opposition stance, albeit a peaceful one.
Opposition or not, coalition or otherwise; what our political parties need to understand is that the need of the hour is not constant back lashing and squabbling against each other, but unification of all the political parties to work towards the common goal of strengthening Pakistan. What with the worsening energy crisis, price hikes, inexhaustible terrorism and what not, the country is engulfed with a state of terror and constant dread. The preservers and the defendants of this country, namely the politicians, need to put aside their differences and instead of peeving and irking each other, should work towards the stability and solidity of our country; it is after all in the best interest of everybody – Zainab Tariq
