MQM lawmakers staged a walkout from the ongoing Sindh Assembly session

Statements made by PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto at the PPP rally in Karachi criticising MQM chief Altaf Hussain prompted the MQM to quit the PPP-led coalition government. Bilawal had also said Altaf and his party were responsible for ruining Karachi. Earlier in the day, the MQM lawmakers had submitted their resignations to Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan. The resignations were submitted under the leadership of senior MQM lawmakers Faisal Sabzwari and Syed Sardar Ahmed to the Sindh governor at the Governor House, according to our correspondent Hafeez Tunio. A meeting with the Sindh Assembly speaker has commenced in which MQM representatives are present. Further, the MQM also submitted a separate application to the Sindh Assembly requesting the allotment of seats in the opposition bench. Sabzwari, while addressing the media, said, “We did not give any strong statement, but the MQM has faced enough verbal abuse.” He also addressed the issues of Karachi, saying, ”Karachi is a city which faces significant problems, and the PPP has been unsuccessful in eliminitating them.” “The MQM had decided to join the Sindh government because urban areas were being ignored. When Zulfikar Ali Bhutto started the quota system, the ratio of the urban and rural widened,” Sabzwari said in criticism of the PPP. Khawaja Izharul Hassan of the MQM said, “The MQM has faith in negotiations. If we come into the government by winning the elections, we will only serve our people.” “Local elections have never taken place in the history of PPP,” Hassan said while addressing the media. The MQM on Sunday quit the Pakistan Peoples Party-led coalition government in Sindh in protest of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s ‘unsavoury remarks’ about its chief Altaf Hussain at Saturday’s rally.