ISLAMABAD, 4 June 2004 — The ruling party Pakistan Muslim League (Q) proposed yesterday the formation of a “consensus” government in the southern province of Sindh to deal with deteriorating security after a spate of terror attacks.
Sindh’s provincial capital, Karachi, saw a series of bloody attacks in May. In the latest, on Monday, at least 20 people were killed in a suspected suicide bomb attack on a Shiite mosque a day after the murder of a Sunni cleric.
“A government of national consensus should be formed which should be able to restore peace in the province,” Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League, told reporters. “We should have it with immediate effect,” Shujaat later told Reuters after talks with opposition leaders on the proposal.
“In view of the deteriorating situation in Sindh, the past bitterness should be forgotten.”
While the latest bombing in the southern commercial hub smacked of decades-old sectarianism, analysts say it appears militants have been using attacks on Shiites as part of a campaign to undermine President Pervez Musharraf and his support for the US-led war on terror.
Speculation has been rife about changes in Sindh after Musharraf said he would take “a serious decision” in the wake of the new violence, but officials have ruled out imposing direct federal rule through a governor in the province.
Shujaat held talks with Amin Fahim, a senior aide of self-exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and separately with Qazi Hussain Ahmed, acting head of the opposition Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal religious alliance.
The PPP and the MMA are the main opposition to the coalition that rules Sindh, which is made up of the ruling party and the pro-government Muttahida Qaumi Movement.
Shujaat said Ahmed had said he supported the proposal, but Fahim told private Geo television he would have to consult Benazir. “Doors are never closed in politics, but it is just an idea right now, we do not know whether it will be acceptable or not,” Fahim said.
“I told both leaders that we must join hands to restore law and order in Karachi. But Amin Faheem insisted that being the majority party in the Sindh Assembly, the PPP must be given the chief minister’s post,” Shujaat told reporters after the talks.
Shujaat said he had proposed a “temporary” setup in the province to include a government of national consensus to deal with the deteriorating security situation in the port city following a string of terrorist attacks that claimed about 57 lives last month.
“It is our right — the top provincial slot should be given to our party...if the central government is serious in this matter, we will discuss the proposal in our party meeting,” said Fahim.
The Pakistan People’s Party announced it will stage sit-ins in Karachi and the rest of Sindh today to protest the growing political violence in the province. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, on its part, has also called for a day of protest today.
PPP leader Nisar Khuhro said that at least 217 people were killed and 325 injured in Sindh violence in May while 73 people committed suicide during the month. He said the PPP would expand its protest to other provinces if the government failed to restore peace.
