ISLAMABAD: There was a stir in Pakistani politics Monday evening when two private television channels quoted the London-based leader of Muttaheda Qaumi Movement Altaf Hussain asking President Zardari to quit. Phone calls flooded news organizations and everyone, from ordinary politicians to members of the public, thought the “game is over.”
“Shahid Masood of Geo TV is making his desires as the news,” said a close aide to President Asif Ali Zardari when this correspondent contacted the president’s office.
Speaking to some TV channels later, Hussain said, “My party’s view is that the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) — which provided indemnity not only to ruling Pakistan People’s Party but also to the MQM, the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and other politicians — should not be brought to Parliament.”
The dust settled when Prime Minister Yousaf Gilani told the National Assembly, “We want to have a consensus of all parties over the NRO issue.” Later in the evening an MQM delegation led by Farooq Sattar held a separate meeting with the prime minister.
Before the MQM delegation’s meeting with Gilani, the National Assembly witnessed an exchange of harsh words between the treasury and opposition deputies. The worst comments came from PML (N) leader Javed Hashmi who said the NRO “will be a label of corruption on Parliament.”
Amid the commotion, Speaker Fehmida Mirza adjourned the house till Tuesday.
The government has already got the ordinance, which was part of a Musharraf-Bhutto power-sharing deal, cleared from a parliamentary committee and plans to present it before both houses of Parliament for formal enactment.
Though PML (Q) had approved the ordinance before former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif were allowed to return to Pakistan, its President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain Sunday told a press conference, “We will oppose it in Parliament.”
