ISLAMABAD – MQM, PPP become coalition partners: The relationship between the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has not been as pleasant as was forecast when the coalition was formed although the MQM, along with other political parties, gave the vote of confidence to PPP-nominated Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in March 2008.
The appointment of Suddle as IG Sindh: The first instance of serious differences emerged soon afterwards when the PPP started shuffling the Musharaf-appointed bureaucracy in April and named Shoib Suddle IG of Sindh police. The MQM resisted initially and raised serious objections publicly against Suddle’s appointment, accusing him of committing extra-judicial killings in the Karachi operation against the MQM workers.
Though the leaders of both the parties sorted out things for the time being, it laid the foundation of distrust and paranoia that has constantly been hunting the coalition throughout the years. Local bodies issue: The second phase of differences between the MQM and PPP emerged when the government abolished Musharraf’s local bodies system.
The PPP-led government abolished the system, replacing the district governments with administrators owing to its political compulsions whereas the MQM was in favour of retaining the system because it had provided an opportunity to a large number of its workers to enhance their political influence strengthening the party’s political clout in urban Sindh.
The issues such as demarcation of boundaries and target killings also remained unresolved between the PPP and the MQM. The MQM thought that re-drawing the constituencies was an attempt on the PPP’s part to reduce the MQM’s majority in certain areas.
On the other hand, the PPP leaders had been accusing the MQM of being involved in the target killings, but the differences were put under the carpet every time to save the coalition. The NRO issue: The MQM opposed the National Reconciliation Order when the PPP-government in November 2009 tried to legalise it by making it part of the constitution.
The Ordinance, issued by Musharraf, had made the withdrawal of corruption cases against various leaders including Asif Ali Zardari possible. Altaf Hussain, the supremo of MQM, had said that NRO, being a black law based on political expediency could not be made part of the constitution. Altaf said the constitution must be saved from NRO because it amounted to making corruption legal.
RGST issue: The MQM and the PPP locked horns on the issue of Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST). The MQM, rejecting the proposed tax, said that the tax would be an additional burden on the poor and instead of that big landlords should be taxed revenue generation.
Zulfiqar Mirza episode: The issue of target killings surfaced again when Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza, a close confidant of President Asif Ali Zardari, accused the MQM of being involved in target killings. The MQM protesting against the statement raised serious objections and called for Mirza’s removal. The MQM’s Rabita Committee gave a 10-day deadline to the PPP government to resolve the issue.
An MQM delegation met the prime minister and the president in this connection. Initially it appeared that the coalition would survive, but the MQM left the federal cabinet on December 27, 2010, and decided to sit on the treasury benches and support the government. That decision was reversed by the Rabita Committee only after five days and the MQM decided to sit in opposition benches, marking the complete departure of the MQM from the government.
