Federal and provincial ministers from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) submitted their resignations on Tuesday. MQM Rabita Committee Deputy Convener Farooq Sattar said three of the MQM’s ministers in the federal government, including himself, had sent their resignations to President Asif Ali Zardari. The other two federal ministers from the MQM wereBabar Ghauri and Nadeem Ehsan.
Talking to reporters, Sattar said, “The government wanted us to follow its dictations and insisted that the MQM should withdraw its candidates from AJK’s constituencies in Sindh in favour of the PPP candidates.” Meanwhile, AFP quoted MQM spokesman Wasey Jalil as saying, “Our 14 ministers in the Sindh government tendered their resignations today.”
Those who resigned include Shaikh Afzal, Nisar Ahmed Panhwar, Zubair Khan, Khalid Bin Wilayat, Adil Siddiqi, Sardar Ahmed, Shoaib Bukhari, Haseeb Khan, Rauf Siddiqui, Nadia Gabol, Ali Shah, Faisal Sabzwari, Raza Haroon and Khawaja Izharul Hassan. After tendering their resignations to Acting Sindh Governor Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, MQM leader Raza Haroon told reporters that they had also requested Khuhro to accept their resignations at the earliest so that they could formally apply for the opposition benches in the Sindh Assembly, and also for the slot of opposition leader.
