Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) is set to part ways with the PPP government in Sindh which would enable the party to capture the post of the leader of the opposition, allowing it to have a say in the caretaker set up as the single largest in the opposition.
Article 224(A) of the Constitution under 20th Amendment states: "A care-taker Chief Minister shall be appointed by the Governor in consultation with the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Provincial Assembly." According to sources, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is secretly supporting such a move by the MQM as it would enable the two partners to have a greater say in the caretaker set up.
Sources told this correspondent that the MQM would, at an appropriate time, quit the PPP-led coalition government with eyes firmly on the caretaker set up in the province. The Sindh Assembly has no opposition leader. The speaker Sindh Assembly Nisar Ahmed Khuhro has already stated that the opposition did not have the required numbers that would have merited the appointment of a leader of the opposition in the provincial assembly.
Abdul Razzaque Rahim of PML-Q (like-minded) told Business Recorder that there are 17 members on opposition benches in the Sindh Assembly: three from National Peoples' Party (NPP), one from Awami National Party (ANP), four from Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) (like-minded) and as many as nine from PML-Functional, including Muhammad Shahayar Khan Mahar, who recently joined the party.
The PML-Q leader said that some PML-F lawmakers had submitted an application to the Speaker to appoint Nusrat Bano Sher Abbasi as the Leader of the Opposition, but no decision has so far been taken. The lack of an opposition leader was challenged in the Sindh High Court (SHC), which issued a directive to appoint leader of opposition within 10 days. He accused the government of willfully delaying the appointment of opposition leader as both PPP and MQM did not favour appointing an opposition leader for their own vested interests.
"The is reason is evident, the government wants to bestow MQM with a lucrative slot [opposition leader], as both the parties want to keep most posts in the caretaker set up...wheeling-dealing between PPP and MQM is the main reason that the assembly is being run without an opposition leader," Abdul Razzaque Rahimoon lamented.
The Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) (Like-minded) had also moved an application to appoint former Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim as the Opposition leader but the Assembly de-seated him, saying he had not attended the assembly session even once. Rahim has been living in Dubai since formation of the government in 2008. MQM has 50 seats in Sindh Assembly and the moment it quit the coalition, the post of the opposition leader would automatically fall in their lap.
The sources said that President Asif Ali Zardari is not in a hurry to announce the caretaker set up, as it would undermine the authority of the Prime Minister. Even, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) wants to delay the announcement of the caretaker set-up. The sources said that both PPP and PML-N were not in a hurry to dissolve assemblies.