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Tuesday, November 24, 2009
By Tariq Butt
ISLAMABAD: While Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani is yet to put his foot down and show the door to the two NRO-infected federal ministers, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), also having the same number of this category of members of the federal cabinet, says it will not hesitate to follow such trend, if set.
“But then there will be no end if resignations were sought or marching orders were given for this very reason,” a senior MQM leader told The News.“This kind of resignations would not stop at the federal and Sindh ministers alone,” he said, indicating that then there would also be demand for the exit of President Asif Ali Zardari, who was also a beneficiary of the NRO, for the same reason.
The MQM leader said the party’s coordination committee has asked all and sundry in the party not to speak on the NRO issue for two days — Monday and Tuesday. He did not give any reason. Therefore, he insisted anonymity.
He said when it comes to quitting the cabinet, the MQM has never been hesitant. “Already, we have just 1.3 ministries at the federal level and we had joined the federal cabinet on President Zardari’s insistence. Although, we have greater parliamentary strength, the Awami National Party (ANP) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) have been given more representation in the federal cabinet than us,” he said.
The names of the MQM federal ministers, Dr Farooq Sattar and Babar Ghauri, figured in the list of beneficiaries, whose criminal cases were quashed under Section 2 of the NRO. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s nominees, who are the NRO beneficiaries under Section 7 dealing with corruption cases, included Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar.
Two PPP leaders, including Minister of State Nabeel Gabool and Nawab Yousuf Talpur, have made their stand public that the NRO-infected ministers should go home. Gabool told Geo TV that had he been in this category of ministers, he would have tendered his resignation. Talpur has stated that he has asked the prime minister to get resignations of the NRO-affected ministers.
The MQM leader conceded that the PPP’s relations with his party would further dip if his ministers at the federal level and in Sindh were asked to resign for figuring in the NRO lists. He gave a long-winded explanation to justify that the criminal cases against the MQM leaders and workers, incorporated in the NRO lists, were totally different because these were instituted merely for their political victimization.
“Altaf Hussain had some 300 cases against him, a majority of which proved false when the MQM fought them out in the courts of law over the years,” the MQM leader said. He said if there was a guarantee that courts would decide the cases in a year or so, then the demand for resignations of the ministers should be made. “Everybody knows that the cases continue to drag in courts for years with those implicated in them persistently suffering,” he said.
“On our part, we have set the ball rolling and set the precedent by getting the resignation of Saeed Mehdi, Advisor to the Punjab Chief Minister,” a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader told The News. “This may serve as a trend for the federal ruling coalition,” he said.
Asked whether the MQM would follow the suit, the MQM leader said Mehdi was an adviser for nothing except that he was hoisting the Pakistan flag and spending the public money on his person under different heads. “Politically, he is of no consequence,” he added.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
