Senior party official Farooq Sattar said the MQM withdrew because of differences with the government over elections in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. Although the move was a blow to the government, it was not expected to collapse as it enjoys a comfortable majority in Parliament.
“After looking at the undemocratic and dictatorial behavior of the government, we have come to the conclusion that now it has become impossible for the MQM to go with this government,” Sattar told a news conference.
Sattar claimed the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had repeatedly pressurized the MQM to give up one seat in Karachi. He alleged that Interior Minister Rehman Malik was constantly in touch with Rabita committees over the issue and that he forced the MQM to give up the seat. Sattar blamed the government for not protecting MQM workers and leaders, claiming that more than 300 MQM workers had been killed under the current government.
According to latest unofficial results, the PPP has emerged as the single largest party in Kashmir polls securing 17 seats. Final results are being awaited.
The MQM said in a statement that the long-standing governor of Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital, would also stand down. Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan is a member of the MQM. The MQM was a junior partner of the ruling PPP of President Asif Ali Zardari in both the Sindh provincial government and the federal government.
The MQM had earlier quit the federal government in January to protest a rise in petrol prices, but later rejoined the coalition after the government scrapped the increase.
The PPP faces no serious threat to its parliamentary majority as it has support of Pakistan Muslim League (Q).
The MQM largely draws its support from the descendents of Urdu-speaking migrants from India who dominate Karachi and other urban centers of southern Sindh province. The city was the scene of intense ethnic violence in the 1990s between migrants and Sindhis, who are the main supporters of the ruling PPP.
The ethnic picture has become more volatile since then with a large influx of ethnic Pashtuns from areas bordering Afghanistan, but some political analysts said tension has been to some degree kept in check by the MQM’s involvement in government.
“Whenever the MQM gets angry, the level of conflict in Karachi increases and that is a big fear,” said political analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi.
Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan said the government would try to address the MQM’s grievances.
“We will try to remove misgivings and our leadership will do this through consultation with MQM,” she told a news conference.
MQM leader Altaf Hussain lives in self-imposed exile in London after being accused of murder in the last round of blood-letting in the 1990s.
(With input from Azhar Masood)
