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. Online