LAHORE - Contrary to all speculations, Dr Zulfikar Mirzas frontal attack on the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has brought the party of Mr Altaf Husain closer to the ruling PPP and is expected to be part of the coalition shortly after Eidul Fitr. Two important PPP ministers gave the indication while talking to reporters on Tuesday. Religious Affairs Minister Syed Khursheed Shah held a meeting with Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad in Islamabad and reportedly discussed the possibility of cooperation. Sindh Minister for Local Government Agha Siraj Durrani met President Zardari and discussed the situation in the province. He subsequently told reporters that the PPP and the MQM would offer Eid prayers separately, but would join hands shortly thereafter. The MQM had left the coalition when the government postponed elections on two Karachi seats of the AJK Legislative Assembly. The Sindh governor and the MQM ministers tendered resignations, which were not accepted by the relevant authorities. Later on, the Sindh governor resumed his office as a result of fresh talks between the two sides. However, the 'ministers are still out of the cabinet. When Dr Mirza leveled serious charges against the MQM leadership, many believed that now the MQM and the PPP would never sit together. However, it appears to have led to a development nobody could imagine. Nisar Mehdi from Karachi adds: Condemning Dr Zulfiqar Mirza remarks against MQM Quaid Altaf Hussain, MQM on Tuesday termed Mirza an 'anti-Pakistan and sick minded person and said that his allegations against Altaf Hussain were 'shameful and baseless. Addressing a Press conference at Kursheed Memorial hall, MQM Deputy Parliamentary leader in Sindh Assembly Faisal Sabzwari said that the monstrous allegation made by Zulfiqar Mirza about an alleged US plot to break up Pakistan, referring to his meeting with Altaf Hussain in London, is as much laughable as it is grave. He further said that the mental condition of Zulfiqar Mirza can easily be judged from this disclosure. Sabzwari further said:'Zulfiqar Mirza has tried to increase his stature by pointing finger at the leader of the third largest political party who is honoured by millions of people. It is highly ridiculous that Altaf Hussain asked Dr Farooq Sattar, Governor Sindh Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad and other senior leaders of the MQM to go out of the room, as Mirza himself says, and held secretive talks with him. This would mean that the people who had been working with Altaf Hussain for many years were not worthy of his trust, and those who were meeting with him for the first time were so reliable that he could hold highly confidential talks with them. This is nothing but slander and a white lie. There is not a speck of reality in it and the MQM condemns this in the strongest possible terms. He stated that people know it very well that the fabricated, appalling and outrageous allegation of Jinnahpur was levelled against the MQM in the past as well in an attempt to malign it as an anti-State political party. 'Self-made maps were also produced before the people but a time came when the conspirators came on the media and accepted before the nation that the Jinnahpur allegation was a drama and that no maps were discovered, he added. 'MQM Chief Altaf Hussain is a great and a patriotic leader of the country and the MQM is the political party of the descendants of the founders of Pakistan, who sacrificed millions of lives in the struggle for Pakistan. They left their homes, belongings and memories of their ancestors for their cherished homeland. Everyone in Pakistan knows that it was Zulfiqar Mirza who talked about breaking up Pakistan in his speech before the media. Zulfiqar Mirza has only tried to mislead the international community, Armed Forces of Pakistan, national defence institutions and patriotic people by making these unfounded and repugnant allegations -hitting several targets with one bullet, Sabzwari added. Commenting on Dr Mirzas allegation about Altaf Hussains involvement in Pakhtun killings in Karachi, he said that the conversation referred to Altaf Hussain by Zulfiqar Mirza regarding killing of the Pakhtuns is an unabashed lie, baseless and a figment of imagination of his devious mind. 'The purpose of this allegation is to create hatred and animosity in the minds of the Pakhtuns against Altaf Hussain and to bring them in confrontation with the MQM, he added. He said that we want to assure the Pakhtuns beyond a shadow of doubt that Altaf Hussain and the MQM have never been against the Pakhtuns. We consider them as our brothers and hold their life, property and dignity as sacred as we hold ours, he added. He maintained that there never was a dispute between the Balochs and the Mohajirs in Karachi before Zulfiqar Mirza became the Home Minister. 'Zulfiqar Mirza conspired to provoke violence between the Balochs through a nefarious conspiracy. The Balochs are old citizens of Karachi and they are our brothers. No sooner Zulfiqar Mirza become the Home Minister, the incidents of kidnapping for ransom, extortion, robbery spiked in Karachi. Any trader and shopkeeper who dared to refuse ransom or extortion money in the areas of Saddar, Burns Road, Kharadar, Mithadar, Jodia Bazar, Tower and the other adjoining areas was killed in broad daylight, he stated. He pointed out that the massacre of the shopkeepers in Sher Shah Kabari Market is a glaring example in which several shopkeepers were put to death by indiscriminate firing when they refused to give extortion money to the criminal elements of Zulfiqar Mirza. He further said that the accused terrorists of the Peoples Amn Committee who were nominated in the case were turned over to the police in the office of Zulfiqar Mirza. The shopkeepers who were plaintiff in the case were threatened with murder if they identified the killers, he said. Faisal Sabzwari said: 'Zulfiqar Mirza has made tall claims about peace in Karachi. Had he any concern about bringing peace in Karachi, he would have supported indiscriminate and across the board action against terrorists and criminal elements in Karachi, but he fiercely opposed action against the dissolved Peoples Amn Committee in every government meeting. He pointed out that Zulfiqar Mirza started making baseless allegations not only against the MQM but also the government, Federal Interior Minister, Governor Sindh and PPP leaders Agha Siraj Durrani and Babar Awan as soon as the Rangers moved against the terrorists of gang war in Lyari, finished no-go areas, arrested criminals, recovered weapons and discovered torture cells. 'Zulfiqar Mirza did this in a bid to stop action against the criminal elements and to influence the suo motu action taken by the Supreme Court against bloodshed, mayhem and extortion mafia in Karachi. He said that hundreds of cases were made against the MQM in order to defame it and harm its credibility in the public. 'From stealing the cap of a policeman to Jinnahpur and from the murder of a common man to Hakim Said, false cases were registered against the MQM workers but they have been honourably discharged from all cases through courts. Zulfiqar Mirza should prove the allegations in the courts instead of showing them on the media, he added. He said that MQM respects the Co-Chairman of the PPP and President Asif Ali Zardari, PPP leadership and the mandate of their party from the bottom of our heart and we hope that they will foil the negative activities of extremist elements like Zulfiqar Mirza who want to harm the democratic process by driving a wedge between the PPP and the MQM, create disturbance in Sindh and create feud between the voters of both the parties. 'We will continue to work for bringing peace and stability in Sindh, particularly Karachi, under the guiding leadership of Altaf Hussain, he added. He appealed the workers, sympathisers and the general public not to get provoked at inflammatory and absurd allegations.