Major
setback for Pakistan government as MQM parts ways
Tuesday December 28, 2010 08:06:24 AM,
IANS
|
Islamabad:
The coalition government in Pakistan has hit a major roadblock as
a key ally, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), has decided to
part ways, media reports said early Tuesday.
"The reservations of the party have not been addressed and we are
forced to make a decision to go our own way," MQM legislator
Haider Abbas Rizvi told Samaa TV.
"In the first phase, our two federal ministers, Farooq Sattar and
Babar Khan Ghori, will step down on Tuesday and offer their
resignations to the prime minister", he said.
The MQM had given a 10-day deadline to the government last week
for clarification of a statement by Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar
Mirza, who had accused MQM of extortion and target-killing in
Karachi.
An MQM delegation had called on President Asif Ali Zardari and
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to record their statements. They
were assured of a favourable response but the party decided to go
ahead with the resignations at the end of the deadline when
nothing concrete emerged.
"We are not going to apply for opposition benches as yet and will
wait and see before making the next move," said MQM leader Wasay
Jaleel.
"If things don't improve, we may decide to leave the coalition
altogether in the centre and the Sindh province," he said.
Federal minister and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Khurshid
Shah said the government wants to take all allies along and the
ruling party would assess the situation before giving a formal
reaction.
Zardari is believed to have given the task of playing an
interlocutor to Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
"He is expected to reach Karachi shortly and establish contact
with the MQM," reports said.
The divided mandate in the national assembly had forced the PPP to
form a coalition government with the MQM, the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam
(JUI) and the Awami National Party (ANP).
The JUI has already made an exit from the coalition, after one of
their ministers was sacked on disciplinary grounds.
If the MQM also decides to ditch the government, the latter's
number game will be adversely affected and it will be difficult
for Gilani to take a vote of confidence in parliament.
"The allies have kept a window open for return if the government
mends its ways. However, the gulf between the ruling party and its
allies is likely to widen in the coming days because the
government has not shown any signs of retreating from its hostile
stand," political analyst Irfan Siddiqui told Geo TV.
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