President Zardari stresses ‘unity, political harmony’ in Karachi meeting with Naqvi, MQM-P’s Khalid Maqbool

President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday met with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui in Karachi, where they discussed the importance of political harmony. This was confirmed in an official statement issued by the Presidency, with sources earlier stating that issues pertaining to Karachi uplift projects, particularly those underway with federal funding and relations between the PPP and MQM-P came under discussion during the meeting. According to the Presidency’s statement, the “importance of national unity, political harmony and continued democracy” was discussed during the meeting. “The president stressed unity and stronger efforts for peace and rule of law,” said a statement posted on X by the Presidency.

“The meeting underscored the need for joint efforts to promote peace, stability, and the rule of law in the country,” the statement read. The leaders “exchanged views on the country’s overall internal security situation and matters related to law and order”. They also reviewed the “evolving regional situation and its potential implications for Pakistan”. The statement said that the president stressed the importance of strengthening internal security and ensuring public safety. PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also said that “ all political forces must stand united”, keeping in view the atmosphere of conflict and uncertainty gripping the world today. He expressed these views during a PPP parliamentary party meeting at Bilawal House in Karachi on Sunday, where he also spoke about the Gul Plaza fire. “We are among those who extinguish fires, not those who ignite them,” he said, adding that it was difficult to understand criticism on the issue. He said Mayor Karachi Murtaza Wahab was being “unfairly targeted” because some elements could not tolerate that a “jiyala is serving as the mayor of Sindh’s capital”. The meeting between President Zardari, who leads the PPP, and the MQM-P chief follows heightened tensions between their parties in recent months regarding Karachi’s governance. Matters have been heated between the PPP and MQM-P — both allies in the federal government — since the Gul Plaza incident, with Siddiqui and his party demanding that Karachi be made part of the federal territory. The tensions reached the point where MQM-P’s Farooq Sattar urged PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to seek resignations from Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab, both of whom are from the PPP. The Centre’s friction with MQM-P became even more apparent earlier this week when the latter’s Kamran Tessori was removed as the Sindh governor and replaced by PML-N’s Nehal Hashmi.

As part of their deal to form a coalition government in the Centre, the PML-N had agreed to appoint PPP leaders as governors of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In return, PPP had agreed to the PML-N’s right to appoint its nominees in Sindh and Balochistan as governors. Therefore, Tessori’s removal indicated a bolstering of the ties between the PPP and the PML-N. The MQM-P had complained that it had not been taken on board before the decision to remove Tessori from office, calling it a “grave mistake” by Islamabad and vowing to soon decide its course of action. Tessori had said he knew who was behind the decision but would remain “politically silent in the larger national interest”.