MQM drops demand for own governor in Sind

The Mohajir Quami Movement, the second largest party in Pakistan's Sind province, has decided not to press its demand for a governor of its choice in the provincial assembly.

The Mohajir party, second only to the Pakistan People's Party in Sind, had earlier agreed to a coalition government with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief's Muslim League on condition that its nominee be made the chief minister. However, Sharief later persuaded Mohajir chief Altaf Hussain to agree to a League chief minister, promising him a Mohajir governor, speaker and 50 per cent ministers in the assembly instead.

Sharief, with President Farooq Leghari and the army against him, is helpless in the matter, as the MQM has now realised.

The federal government, meanwhile, is considering the names of a retired general and an academic -- Moeenuddin Haider and Pirzada Qasim -- for the governor's post.

Interestingly, Leghari's officials have been quoted as saying they would not object if any Urdu-speaking person (that being the local language) other than a Mohajir is chosen for the post. Leghari, though he sacked former prime minister Benazir Bhutto last November for 'ill treating Mohajir supporters' , does not apparently consider the MQM 'patriotic enough' to have a governor, sources say.