ISLAMABAD -  Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan chief Dr Farooq Sattar will hold a meeting with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqani Abbasi to request him for reopening of sealed party's offices in Karachi and other areas of the country.

MQM's offices, including the Nine-Zero, were sealed when its former party supremo Altaf Hussain had delivered an anti-Pakistan speech and incited supporters to ransack the office of a news channel. Later on, the party disassociated itself from its founder Altaf Hussain.

However, the MQM-P despite being an opposition party has some

‘soft corner' for the PML-N government to get some favour in return as the party lawmakers have not been going against the government policies for a long time in and outside the Parliament.

The party MNAs, on the instructions of party chief Farooq Sattar, had also cast votes for Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and also withdrawn its candidate Kishwar Zehra in his support in the election for the slot of prime minister.

Sources in the MQM-P said that it has already been conveyed to bigwigs of the PML-N to give it some favour by reopening its some offices if not all in Karachi and Haiderabad in return of their votes for Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

They said the MQM-P lawmakers held some meetings with the prime minister to remind him of his promise he had made with them during his election campaign for the premiership.

An MQM-P MNA desiring not to be named said it was a right of all the political forces to sit in their political offices to deal with the issues of people. "It is an election year and right of all political parties to listen to the problems of people in their constituencies," he said. The MQM-P has a number of times requested the government to reopen its offices but could not succeed so far.

The MQM chief after his derogatory speech over two years ago had tendered an apology but the government sealed the party headquarters in Karachi.

Sources said that the party would make a last-ditch effort before the upcoming National Assembly session, likely to start by mid January, for reopening of its party offices.

Sources said the party lawmakers had many reservations over recent results of population census, which were addressed in the last Council of Common Interests (CCI) to conduct five per cent audit of constituencies.

They said the MQM-P chief has also recently requested National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq not to accept resignations of his party lawmakers. As, two MNAs recently submitted resignations in the National Assembly Secretariat over recent meetings of Farooq Sattar with PSP Chief Mustafa Kamal.