Following a high-level meeting with the leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has urged for the country’s political stability.
Speaking to the media, Siddiqui denied that the Karachi-based party is in talks with the PML-N over government formation.
His remarks come as political parties, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the PML-N, attempt to form alliances after neither party was able to secure a simple majority in the February 8 polls that have been released thus far.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed independent candidates have emerged as the largest group, with 93 National Assembly seats thus far.
whereas the PML-N and PPP have garnered 78 and 54 seats, respectively – implying that either a hung parliament is in the works.
Siddiqui, speaking at a press conference in Karachi on his party’s engagement with the PML-N leadership in Lahore, firmly rejected demanding the position of Sindh governor for the MQM-P.
“The news [reports circulating] in the media regarding government formation are not correct,” he stated, urging parties to look beyond their own political interests.
Separately, speaking to the media, senior PML-N leader Azam Nazeer Tarar described the MQM-P delegation’s visit as a “goodwill gesture” and stated that the party will build its government in the centre after conferring with its partners, whoever they may be.
Tarar emphasized that no single party has the mandate to create the government on its own, and that the formation of a coalition administration strengthens the federation.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Geo News, PPP leader Qamar Zaman Kaira emphasized the importance of “reconciliation” in light of the current political uncertainties.
Regarding the PPP’s potential partnership with any political party, Kaira stated that his party would consider the matter during its central executive committee meeting on Monday (tomorrow).
Responding to a question on the PPP’s prospects of joining hands with the PML-N in light of its Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s stance, which he had stated during the election campaign, opposing any alliance with the Nawaz Sharif-led party, Kaira questioned what would happen if his party refuses to join hands with either PML-N or PTI.
