The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has been put on the razor’s edge by key ally Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which pulled out of the Federal Cabinet and threatened to quit the alliance altogether if its demands were not met.
“President Zardari is in contact with the MQM leadership to save the government,” a top aide of Mr Asif Ali Zardari told this newspaper. President Zardari, who is also ruling PPP co-chairman, cut short his visit to Naudero to mark his wife Benazir Bhutto’s death anniversary and hurried to Karachi on Tuesday to pacify the MQM.
Late on Monday, the MQM announced it would quit the Cabinet, putting the government in danger after another ally, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazal), recently parted ways. The MQM, however, said it will not sit on the Opposition benches in the National Assembly “but will decide its future course in due time”. If the MQM decides to sit on the Opposition benches, the PPP government will lose its majority in the National Assembly.
According to MQM’s decision, federal minister for overseas Pakistanis Farooq Sattar and federal minister for ports and shipping Babar Ghauri will tender their resignations in the first phase. It was also decided that the MQM would soon make a decision on leaving the Sindh government, led by the PPP.
The MQM feels that the PPP government did not consider the proposals presented for the welfare of the masses. “The decision is a result of the government’s ignorance towards its coalition partner,” an MQM leader said.
President Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani rang up the MQM’s Sindh governor, Dr Ishrat-ul-Ibad Khan, and assured him the MQM’s grievances would be redressed.