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Karachi: Top leaders of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) have pledged to bridge their divide and work together for the progress and stability of the country.
Coalition prospect
In a major and much-awaited political development, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, accompanied by senior leaders of the party, visited MQM headquarters "Nine-Zero" on Wednesday night, making it all but obvious that the pro-Musharraf party would be made part of the new ruling coalition.
However, both sides refrained from announcing any deal, limiting their statements to the mutual goodwill and reconciliation that had come by.
"Today, the PPP has forgiven us and we have forgiven the PPP," MQM's supreme leader Altaf Hussain said by telephone from London. A large number of MQM supporters, who had gathered at the party head office to welcome Zardari, cheered and raised slogans as Hussain made the remarks.
"We will work jointly to eliminate the urban-rural divide and for the rights of the oppressed people," he said.
Zardari listened to Hussain's remarks clapping and waiving along with the crowd.
Brothers in arms
Hussain said he and Zardari were brothers and would foil any conspiracies aimed to divide or create conflict between the PPP and the MQM.
MQM, which speaks for the political and economic rights of Urdu-speaking people who migrated from India at the time of the Partition in 1947 and their descendants, dominates Karachi and other areas of urban Sindh. Rural Sindh is considered the stronghold of the PPP.
Zardari, in an emotional and heart-warming speech, said that he and MQM leader Altaf Hussain would work to create an atmosphere in which their children and future generations could live in peace.
"We have forgiven each other and also pardoned our enemies," Zardari said. "We will not take our revenge on the people... we will avenge ourselves by changing the system," he said.
A delegation of MQM leaders will participate in memorial ceremonies to be held in Garhi Khuda Bux to mark the death anniversary of PPP's founding chairman and former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto today.
Both PPP and MQM sources said that Zardari's visit was a landmark and had paved the way for a coalition government between the MQM and PPP at the Sindh provincial level. The MQM is also likely to join the federal government, they indicated.
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