The Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) latest exit from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led coalition government is being touted as the end of a three-and-a-half-year relationship, but the relationship has not always been smooth. The straw that broke the camel’s back was the PPP’s interference in the polls for the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) legislative assembly, which ultimately resulted in accusations of rigging. But the two parties have been bickering since last year: on December 27, 2010, the MQM decided to quit the federal government the first time following disagreements over the issue of local government elections in Sindh.
On January 3, 2011, MQM lawmakers submitted applications in the National Assembly and the Senate. But these were soon retracted on January 7 after Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani visited MQM headquarter Nine-Zero, and assured Muttahida that their “genuine issues”. MQM members did not rejoin the federal cabinet, however, till such time that Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza was sent on forced leave by Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah on April 2011. With Mirza away, the MQM rejoined the federal cabinet on May 4. Despite not being part of the provincial cabinet, the former Sindh home minister twice lashed out at the MQM for its alleged role in targeted killings in the metropolis – first on February 2 and then on March 6. But both times, President Asif Ali Zardari called MQM chief Altaf Hussain and convinced him to stay in government for the sake of democracy.
