The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Monday parted ways with the Pakistan People's Party by quitting the governments in Centre and Sindh and decided to sit on opposition benches.
Addressing a crowded news conference at Nine Zero, Deputy Convenor MQM Co-ordination Committee Dr Farooq Sattar told media here that party leadership had reached the conclusion that it was no longer possible for the MQM to remain part of coalition government which according to him, had become dictational and undemocratic.
Likewise, Governor Sindh Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan will also resign from the office, Sattar added. Later, a spokesman for the governor of Sindh confirmed that Dr Ibad had sent his resignation to the president. "Governor Ishratul Ibad Khan has resigned from his post and sent the resignation to the president for approval," spokesman Syed Wajahat Ali told. In the evening Dr Ibad left for London.
Farooq Sattar said PPP was unwilling to mend its ways leaving MQM with no other option but to quit the coalition government. From now onwards, MQM lawmakers in federal and provincial assemblies would sit on the opposition benches, he added. Sattar complained that MQM ministers and advisors in the Centre did not have any real power and they were unable to take any decisions in the larger interest of the public.
These issues were raised in the meetings of the core committee and even President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani were kept informed about it but the situation remained unresolved, he regretted. Farooq Sattar said that PPP leadership had made a number of promises at the time of entering into an alliance with the MQM but these promises were never fulfilled. Rather the government breached the promises made to the MQM, he said.
Farooq was of the view that when elections were announced for the legislative assembly of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the PPP government that claimed to follow a policy of reconciliation started bullying the MQM instead of extending the hand of reconciliation.
He disclosed that the government pressurised the MQM to withdraw from one of the two seats reserved for Kashmiri diaspora in Karachi in favour of PPP. The MQM had secured these seats in the previous elections. Farooq said MQM was told in unequivocal terms that if the MQM did not withdraw its candidate then the elections in Karachi would be postponed.
He added that as we refused to be swayed by the PPP pressure and persisting threats, the government got the elections postponed barely 24 hours before the polling citing security reasons. "The government first tried to bully us now it has become even more tyrannical in its approach towards MQM. Now that the PPP government has taken recourse to such autocratic and dictatorial actions just for one seat in the (AJK)legislatively assembly, its conduct in the general elections would be forgone conclusion" Farooq Sattar informed.
He said keeping in view the situation and after seeking opinion from all the wings, zones, sectors, units and workers of the MQM, members of the Co-ordination Committee, senators and members of the federal and provincial assemblies the party had decided to come out of the government. "It is not possible for us to partner with the PPP any further because of its brutal, ruthless and disloyal attitude towards its allies," said Sattar.
"It is not a sentimental decision and we'll stick to it to remain on opposition benches," he said adding "We will sit on the opposition benches at the federal and provincial level" It is second time this year that the MQM has quit the government. It also left and rejoined the coalition in the space of one week in January this year.
Farooq Sattar said MQM had always believed in the welfare of the masses all over the country and whatever demands they had made with the PPP government was meant for the people in general and not for the party. He appealed to the political and religious leaders, human rights organisations, political analysts, intellectuals, journalists, and writers who have faith in democracy to see for themselves as to how the MQM was being made to bow down through repression actions.
Farooq said power has never been the objective of the MQM, adding that party had always done politics based on principles "We are not struggling for personal gains or for the benefit of a few families," he said. MQM will not bow down before vested interests and will continue its struggle for the sake of a better democratic Pakistan despite all nefarious designs of tyrants, he concluded.