Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) lawmakers staged a walkout from the ongoing Sindh Assembly session on Monday in protest of the Pakistan Peoples Party.
Statements made by PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto — at the PPP rally in Karachi — criticising MQM chief Altaf Hussain prompted the Muttahida to quit the PPP-led coalition government. Bilawal had also said Altaf and his party were responsible for ruining Karachi.
Earlier in the day, 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 Subzwari 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.
Subzwari, 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 eliminating 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,” Subzwari 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.
Responding to MQM’s criticism, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, while addressing the Sindh Assembly, spoke of his government’s achievements and said the provincial government is the first one to arrest militants. “In Karachi over 250 PPP workers were killed, who killed them?” Shah questioned. “We want Sindh to develop and there should be no differences or divisions in the province.”
Further, he questioned how many people have been inducted in the KMC and Karachi Water and Sewerage Board in a veiled allegation to MQM’s corruption. “Our chairman even spoke of reconciliation to join hands and serve the nation,” the chief minister said, referring to PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s speech which offended MQM workers.
