The meeting was attended by Raza Rabbani, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Rehman A Malik, Naveed Qamar, Mohammad Afzal Sindhu, Jehangir Badr, Fauzia Wahab, Rukhsana Bangash, Fauzia Habib, Senator Nayyar Hussain Bokhari, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Babar Awan, Khursheed Shah, Nazar Muhammad Gondal, Ms Mehreen Anwar Raja and spokesperson to the President Farhat Ullah Babar.
Farhat said the meeting endorsed the position taken by the Prime Minister on the floor of the House on Monday and decided not to take the NRO to the Parliament. He said prior to the high-level meeting, the President and the Prime Minister also consulted the coalition partners. Earlier the President hosted a dinner for the members of the Parliament of PPP and the coalition partners. The dinner was also attended by the Prime Minister.
The prospects of getting the highly controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance approved by the parliament received a severe jolt when Pakistan People's Party's key coalition partner MQM announced that it would not support the NRO in the parliament.
While talking to journalists outside the parliament, MQM'S Deputy Parliamentary Party leader Haider Abbas Rizvi said that his party had finally decided to oppose the NRO, saying that MQM cannot go against the wishes of the people.
According to him, it was a reconciliation ordinance at the time of its promulgation, but now the essence of NRO has completely changed. "No matter whether or not the parliament approves or disapproves the ordinance, the MQM will not be affected in any manner because the majority of cases against its office-bearers and workers have been cleared by the judiciary as those were based on fake, concocted and fabricated charges," Rizvi added.
Rizvi said that the MQM had won all the major cases, including the Major Kaleem case in which the court fined the petitioner Rs 5,000 for levelling false allegations against the accused. The Hakim Said assassination case against MQM leaders and workers was also dismissed due to a lack of evidence.
MQM Chief Altaf Hussain has also asked President Asif Ali Zardari to face courts instead of brining NRO to the parliament. Hussain is said to have suggested that President Zardari should resign in the supreme national interest instead of turning the NRO into a law.
The NRO was issued by former army dictator Pervez Musharraf on October 5, 2007. Later, an MQM delegation led by Dr Farooq Sattar, Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and MQM Parliamentary leader called on Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani at his Parliament House Chamber on Monday and discussed with him the latest political situation in the country.
The delegation clarified the news item regarding the resignation of the President. They informed the Prime Minister that MQM Quaid Altaf Hussain has not issued any such statement. Other members of the delegation included Minister for Ports and Shipping, Babar Khan Ghauri and MNA Syed Haider Abbas Rizvi. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Dr Babar Awan; Minister for Petroleum, Syed Naveed Qamar; Minister for Labour and Manpower, Syed Khursheed Shah and Senator Raza Rabbani were also present in the meeting.