MQM may get six cabinet posts in Sindh

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan People's Party (PPP) is bracing for the possibility of conceding five to six cabinet posts to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in Sindh, party sources here said.
A power-sharing arrangement being negotiated between the two sides included a key demand from the MQM that its nominee should be appointed governor of the province. The MQM would prefer present governor Ishratul Ebad to continue.
The PPP, however, is inclined to name a person from urban Sindh as governor who may not necessarily be a member of the MQM but acceptable to it. In 1990s Nawaz Sharif followed this stance and named Hakim Saeed as governor who was later murdered. MQM activists were accused of masterminding the assassination and Nawaz Sharif launched an operation against the MQM snapping ties with the MQM as coalition partners in Sindh and at the centre.
PPP sources said the Sindh cabinet would initially have 20 to 22 ministers. If an understanding is reached with the MQM for power-sharing, five to six cabinet posts would go to it. However, unlike during past five years when the MQM occupied juicy cabinet posts besides having its member as governor, the PPP is determined to retain most of the key cabinet slots including finance, home, education and local government.
The MQM also wants a firm commitment that the present district governments would not be dissolved before they complete their four-year term in 2009. The party is keen to retain its hold on Karachi and Hyderabad. The PPP is not averse to conceding that demand, according to party sources.