MQM legislators want to part ways with PPP

KARACHI: In a major development that may have a far-reaching impact on the Pakistan People’s Party-led coalition government at the centre, parliamentarians belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement have told their party high command that they want to quit treasury benches and sit on opposition benches because of what they described as an “irresponsible attitude of the Sindh government”.

An MQM statement issued here on Saturday said that all members of the National Assembly and the Senate belonging to the MQM had urged the party’s coordination committee to allow them to sit on opposition benches in parliament.

They complained that although the PPP was enjoying full powers in the federal and provincial governments, MQM workers had been falling victim to targeted killings in Karachi.

They alleged that Lyari gangsters were behind the killing spree. “They are being supported by certain influential elements of the Sindh government.”

They sought permission of the coordination committee to sit on the opposition benches.

The next session of the National Assembly is to begin on Monday and the government may face embarrassment if the MQM MNAs opt to sit on opposition benches. If the 25 MNAs of the MQM part ways with the PPP, then the government will lose majority in the lower house.

However, well-placed sources in the MQM said that although the coordination committee was considering the parliamentarians’ demand, no final decision had so far been taken.

A senior MQM leader told Dawn that he believed the party would continue to support Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in parliament even if it decided to sit in opposition. “We do not want to derail the democratic system, but we fail to understand as to why the federal government is not trying to check killing of our workers,” he said.

He maintained that the final decision would only be taken by MQM chief Altaf Hussain.

Another senior leader told Dawn that the MQM was ready to quit the Sindh government. “We know the PPP does not need us in the province. Most of us believed that we can play a better and constructive role if we leave the coalition and join the opposition in the province.”

GILANI CALLS ALTAF: An MQM leader confirmed that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani called Altaf Hussain and discussed the Karachi situation. However, he did not elaborate.

Earlier, Interior Minister Rehman Malik contacted the London-based members of the MQM coordination committee, assuring them that the government would take action against those involved in target killings.