New LG system in Sindh on the cards | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

New LG system in Sindh on the cards

By Syed Irfan Raza

ISLAMABAD: Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Minister for Religious Affairs Khursheed Shah on Wednesday, discussing ways and means for the return of Muttahida Qaumi Movement to the coalition government, sources in the two sides told Dawn.

The governor first met the prime minister at the Prime Minister House and apprised Mr Gilani of the decision taken by MQM`s Coordination Committee on Tuesday about conditional return of the disgruntled coalition partner.

Sources told Dawn that the governor, who is a frontline leader of the MQM, would stay in the federal capital for another day and was likely to meet President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday. Speculations were rife that the party would make public its decision to rejoin the government after the Ishrat-Zardari conclave.

Sources in the prime minister house said Mr Gilani and Mr Ibad had finalised details of a new understanding between the ruling PPP and MQM.

They said the two sides had agreed on distribution of federal ministries to MQM.

The sources said the MQM had sought the same federal ministries it had before quitting the government. They were federal ministries for ports and shipping and overseas Pakistanis.

Later, the Sindh governor met Mr Khursheed Shah, who has been deputed by his party to hold talks with MQM on the issue of Local Government (LG) system in Sindh.

The sources said the two sides had agreed on a new LG system, a combination of the 1979 and 2001 orders. Dawn

“The new LG system will address concerns of MQM and all other parties in Sindh,” a PPP source told.

The sources said that the MQM would rejoin the federal and provincial cabinets before Eid.
Source: Dawn
Date:8/18/2011