|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Saturday, 05 June 2004 |
 |
|
 |
World | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Pakistan ruling party offers to form coalition Sindh govt to stem violence ISLAMABAD, Friday (AFP,Reuters) Pakistan's ruling party Thursday offered to form a consensus government with the opposition in southern Sindh to stem violence which has rocked the provincial capital Karachi, officials said. Pakistan Muslim League (PML) president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said he had offered to set up a coalition government with the secular and religious opposition parties to ensure law and order in the troubled province. "The offer was only limited to the Sindh province," official media quoted him as saying. Hussain said he made the offer in meetings with leaders of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) - an alliance of six Islamic fundamental parties - and the main opposition Pakistan People's Party of self-exiled former premier Benazir Bhutto. Hussain said he had assured them that the PML-led federal government of Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali "will not interfere in the matter" in Sindh. "The aim was to ensure law and order in the province," he said adding that the opposition parties would give their response next week. Muslim League head Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), a six-party Islamic alliance, backed the proposal. But a spokesman for the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) said its leader Benazir Bhutto - forced to remain in exile by the threat of prosecution for corruption by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf - had rejected it. "The military government has landed itself in a mess. The PPP will not lend its shoulder to bail them out," spokesman Farhatullah Babar told Reuters. After the rebuff from the PPP, the biggest party in Sindh, Hussain will be hoping the MMA can use its influence with Sunni militants blamed for attacking minority Shi'ites to persuade them to curb their activities. Hussain told reporters the deteriorating situation in Sindh required the past bitterness to be forgotten. "A government of national consensus should be formed which should be able to restore peace in the province. We should have it with immediate effect," he said. More than 50 people have died in sectarian violence and terror attacks in Karachi over the past few weeks. On Monday an explosion ripped through a Shiite mosque killing 21 people, less than 24 hours after a top Sunni Muslim cleric was assassinated in the same area. The port city of 14 million people was hit by five deadly attacks over the past month, including Monday's blast and a May 7 suicide bombing which killed 23 people in another Shiite mosque. Last week, a double car bomb attack near the US consul-general's residence killed one policeman and injured several other police and journalists. The day before, a parcel bomb exploded at Karachi's busy port, killing two people. The offer came as the MMA called for a strike on Friday to protest the killings in the commercial hub. Washington warned US citizens in Pakistan that Americans and US interests in Karachi may be targetted for attacks during the strike. The majority Sunni and minority Shiite communities largely live in harmony. However sectarian violence blamed on militants from both sides has claimed more than 4,000 lives since the 1980s. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
