In an abrupt move, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Saturday announced to quit the PPP-led alliance at the centre and Sindh, citing withdrawal of cases against elements of the so-called People's Amn Committee and what it termed the government's failure to maintain peace in Karachi.
The announcement was made by MQM's Deputy Convenor Dr Farooq Sattar during a press conference at the party's headquarters, popularly known as 'Nine-Zero', after the conclusion of a meeting of his party's Co-ordination Committee. Accusing the PPP of several 'breaches of trust', Dr Farooq Sattar said that the decision to part ways with the government was "final and irreversible".
Pointing out that MQM had supported PPP at all difficult junctures for the sake of democracy, he said that PPP had always created problems for MQM. Dr Sattar said his party had always rejoined the PPP-led coalition, always hoping that PPP would not repeat its previous mistakes, but PPP never came up to MQM's expectations. Blaming PPP for having formed the now defunct 'People's Amn Committee', Dr Farooq Sattar said that terrorists of the banned organisation resorted to mindless bloodshed, extortion and intensified lawlessness in Karachi.
According to him, members of the so-called Amn Committee abducted and killed innocent people, after offloading them from busses after identifying them. He said that these criminals had killed these helpless people in an inhuman manner and on top of all of it released videos of their killings on internet. Dr Farooq Sattar said that criminals of the defunct organisation had ruined the city's peace, compelled investors to leave the megalopolis and wind up their businesses. They also murdered innocent traders in the Shershah Market. At the same time, he said that the PPP government allowed these criminals to get bail.
MQM, he said, had boycotted the proceedings of Sindh Assembly in protest against the withdrawal of these, but the government's behaviour encouraged them. Recently, he said, these criminal elements had killed office-bearers of the Shershah market committee. He said that instead of nabbing criminals, PPP was busy withdrawing their names from the government's bounty list, bluntly ignoring MQM's protests.
Referring to the restoration of the local government system, he said that the local government law was to be implemented with immediate effect, but the government had so far avoided its implementation, placing masses at the mercy of bureaucrats. Highlighting hurdles created for MQM's legislators, he said that his party had persistently been taking up these issues with the President and Co-chairperson of PPP Asif Ali Zardari without any success.
According to the MQM leader, the decision to part ways with the PPP-led alliance was not an emotional decision. He reiterated that the decision was final and irrevocable. He said that MQM's co-ordination committee had reviewed the situation several times, and finally decided to quit the coalition and sit on opposition seats in the National Assembly and Sindh Assembly.
He was of the view that the Nazimabad blast, which occurred on Saturday was "a message for MQM", but he said that his party had been facing tyranny, cruelty and oppression and if compelled to do so again, it would continue to do it with courage and steadfastness.
Our Monitoring Desk adds: Muttahida Qaumi Movement's (MQM) ministers and advisers have tendered resignations and handed them over to their party's Co-ordination Committee, a private TV channel reported on Saturday night. According to the channel, the Co-ordination Committee would hand over these resignations to the governor Sindh on Sunday (today).
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