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.

                                           Home | Top of the Page

Top Stories

Shariah Index launched, BSE hopeful of quick returns

The Bombay Stock Exchange, Asia’s oldest trading floor, along with the Mumbai-based Taqwaa Advisory and Shariah Investment Solutions on Monday launched an index     »

Islamic banking thrives in financial crisis

'When London, Singapore and Tokyo can have Islamic banks, why not India?'

  Most Read

Free Binayak Sen: Delhi protestors demand

Holding placards and chanting slogans, activists, students and academicians Monday protested in the capital against a Chhattisgarh court sentencing rights activist and doctor   »

Binayak Sen's case should be judged with enlightened reason: Academicians

Egypt to host first international conclave of Shia Muslims

The first international meeting of Shia Muslims will be held with the presence of eminent figures of the world of Islam in March 2011 in Cairo, Egypt. Mohammad Al-Doreini, head of the Supreme Council for Ahlul Bayt (AS) in Egypt said: “The meeting has been planned with the aim to fight  »

  News Pick

Ghalib's bust installed at Chandni Chowk haveli

The legacy of the 19th century classical Sufi lyricist and  »

Ghalib who? Agra forgets its cultural past

Muslims urged not to shun spiritualism; 350 Nikahs performed in Ijtima

Muslims all over the world are at the receiving end for directing all their efforts and energies on materialism and giving a goby to spiritualism which links them to their Creator. Maulana Shaukat   »

100 journalists killed in 2010, media group says

More than 100 journalists were killed in 2010 while covering the world's trouble spots, with Mexico and Pakistan the most deadly places, an independent media group reported Monday. The non-government organisation   »

3 Indians arrested with bomb ingredient in Nepal

Three young Indian men have been arrested while trying to enter Nepal from India's Darjeeling district carrying 120 kg of sulphur, an ingredient used to make gunpowder. Manik Roy, 23, Haresh Sinha, 22, and Sotor   »

Congress counters BJP's poor tactics with flawed strategy

The ongoing battle over the issue of corruption, between the two main political parties of the country - the Congress, which leads the ruling coalition at the centre, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the main opposition    »