Sindh Assembly acting speaker Shehla Raza said on Wednesday that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) would be allocated opposition seats in the provincial assembly on Thursday.
The announcement followed the MQM’s decision to replace Syed Sardar Ahmed’s name as their opposition leader nominee and instead named Sindh Assembly’s Standing Committee on Health Chairman Amir Moin Peerzada for the post.
On February 27th, MQM leaders had announced their decision to quit the ruling coalition and submitted applications on the same day requesting the acting speaker to allocate opposition seats to them.
Earlier last week, the MQM leaders had said that they were the largest party in the provincial assembly with strength of 50 MPAs, and it was their right to nominate a candidate of their choice as the opposition leader.
It is important to mention here that 20 MPAs of the MQM were signatories on the application.
The MQM had quit the coalition after party leaders alleged that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was patronising criminals belonging to the Peoples Aman Committee and the Lyari gangs by withdrawing cases against them.
Another important issue of contention between the ruling PPP and the MQM was the highlighting of the Sindh Peoples Local Government Act of 2012, that pushed the MQM towards quitting the coalition government.
