Resignations MQM’s answer to minus-Altaf formula: Altaf

LONDON: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief, Altaf Hussain, has said that resignations of the party lawmakers represented a response to the minus-Altaf formula.
“The MQM is a democratic party and any decision regarding withdrawal of resignations from assemblies would be made after the party’s talks set to be brokered by Maulana Fazlur Rehman,” Altaf Hussain said while talking to a private TV channel.
Altaf said had the MQM believed in terrorism, the law enforcers would have to face resistance in the ongoing operation in Karachi, particularly, in areas where Mohajirs are in majority. “But no such thing happened,” he added. He said every party has good and bad elements and a process of cleansing has been going on in the MQM since 1984.
The MQM chief said he talked to Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman on telephone and that the latter did not present any condition for negotiations.
He regretted that despite reminders to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the monitoring committee was not constituted to oversee the ongoing crackdown on criminal elements in Karachi.
Meanwhile, Fazlur Rehman postponed his scheduled visit to the MQM headquarters Nine Zero due to security concerns.
Fazl, who has been tasked by the federal government to hold meetings with the MQM lawmakers to take back their resignations, was supposed to visit the MQM headquarters on Monday but his scheduled visit was postponed at the eleventh hour.
The cancellation of the visit may stalemate the deadlock between the government and the MQM, the single largest representative party of Karachi and Hyderabad.