For a while, it seemed that the country’s political cauldron would soon reach a boiling point, but, though contacts between leaders of different parties continue with an air of political crisis, the expectation of change in the federal government has virtually faded. With the departure of JUI-F from the ruling coalition, and the adamant, though unexpected, refusal of its head Maulana Fazlur Rehman to return to the fold, the prospects of change suddenly began to appear bright. And all those, who had for long been predicting that the present coalition would crumble under the weight of corruption and mismanagement, thought that the JUI-F’s exit would prove the last straw.
Besides, in the backdrop of the MQM having been cheesed off with the PPP about the accusatory remarks of Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza, implicating the party in target killings at Karachi, there seemed to be a real likelihood of the ouster of the present government. But, as MQM watchers had insisted that it was the party’s compulsion to stay in the ruling set-up and, thus, had foreseen, its anger waned with the vague assurance of President Zardari that he would take action to remove its grouse. Interestingly, the demand for Mirza’s removal from the cabinet has now fizzled out, while the Sindh Home Minister publicly stood his ground about his charge of MQM’s involvement, only a day before MQM leader Farooq Sattar met the President – Nation
