LONDON: President Asif Ali Zardari, accompanied by a federal minister and a businessman from Islamabad who arrived here on Friday morning on a private visit is most likely to meet MQM leader Altaf Hussain.
Nevertheless Presidential spokesperson Farhatullah Babar had told the media Thursday night that President left for a private visit to London primarily for a medical checkup, his aides, soon after arriving here have started lobbying for his meeting with Hussain. According to sources close to the Presidential aides, they have been busy for quite some time now in convincing Altaf Hussain to meet Zardari to hammer out issues between the PPP and the MQM.
The sources told Online, the two presidential aides had also visited Altaf Hussain recently when he was hospitalized in London to inquire about his health and to lure him to the table with Zardari. The sources added that Altaf Hussain had given them positive hints during their last meetings with him separately.
Although the Presidential spokesman had claimed that the President’s visit was according to the time slots allotted to him for medical checkup, the sources insisted that this private trip UK was actual meant for meeting Altaf Hussain. The sources were hopeful that the prospective meeting between the President and MQM chief in exile would yield in terms of MQM’s return to coalition government both in Sindh and the centre. The sources said that mutual friends in UK in addition to two aides traveling with him have also accelerated their pacifying and lobbying efforts. The sources claimed that the MQM was likely to rejoin the government as early as the end of the President’s private visit that could span over a week. – Onlinenews
