By IANS
Karachi : Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain, who lives in exile but whose party supports the federal government and also rules Sindh, has termed an ordinance that grants politicians amnesty from corruption cases as the “beginning of a new political culture” in Pakistan.
All political parties should now “forget their disputes with one another and sit together for the solidarity and integrity of Pakistan”, he said while speaking from London on the telephone to a huge crowd that had gathered at the party’s headquarters on Saturday night to celebrate the re-election of President Pervez Musharraf.
According to Hussain, while all parties had sought indemnity only for their leaders via the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), the MQM had demanded withdrawal of cases against workers of all parties and succeeded in getting this included in the statute, Dawn reported Sunday.
The MQM leader was, however, silent on whether the NRO would enable him to return home.
“He said reconciliation was the need of the hour and all parties should forget their disputes with one another and sit together to evolve a strategy to deal with the challenges of extremism and terrorism,” the newspaper reported.
He condemned the “negative and non-serious attitude” of the opposition parties at a time when the country was at a critical juncture.
While lawmakers of the opposition All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) resigned from the national and provincial assemblies ahead of the elections, those of the PPP refrained from voting.
PPP leader and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto is known to have entered into a power-sharing agreement with Musharraf after the general elections that are likely early next year. The NRO was promulgated to facilitate this.
Hussain congratulated Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and its allied parties for “winning” the presidential election.