- In protest against Bilawal’s remarks against Altaf Hussain, MQM legislators submit resignations from ministerial posts in Sindh, apply for allotment of seats with opposition benches in provincial assembly
- MQM moves resolution for removal of PPP leader Khursheed Shah as leader of opposition in NA
The bitterness in relations between the Muttahidda Qoumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) following MQM’s announcement to abandon PPP in Sindh government boiled over Monday when MQM legislators walked out of the Sindh Assembly after tendering their resignations from provincial ministerial positions while MQM National Assembly members moved a resolution for the removal of PPP leader Khursheed Shah as leader of the opposition in the House.
Under the leadership of senior MQM lawmakers Faisal Sabzwari and Syed Sardar Ahmed, MQM’s provincial ministers and advisers sent their resignations to Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, respectively, also applying for the allotment of seats in section that houses opposition benches in Sindh Assembly.
During the Sindh Assembly session, MQM members also walked out of the assembly after a fiery speech by Khawaja Izharul Hasan who lambasted the statements made by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari against MQM chief Altaf Hussain.
Hassan lambasted the Sindh government for its alleged discriminatory attitude towards the urban population of the province. He claimed that in every provincial budget, the Sindh government “purposely created division” between the rural and urban areas, adding that only two per cent of the funds were allocated for Karachi.
“We dispatched our resignations to the governor late night and will submit an application today for allotment of opposition benches in Sindh Assembly. MQM’s 51 MPAs are no more part of the government,” Hassan spoke to reporters at the assembly.
“We believe in negotiations and not in hypocrisy. If we come into the government by winning the elections, we will only serve our people. PPP never held local bodies elections in its entire history because it does not believe in it,” he said.
MQM leader Faisal Sabzwari, while addressing the media, said, “We did not give any strong statement, but the MQM has faced enough verbal abuse.”
“The MQM had decided to join the Sindh government because urban areas were being ignored. When Zulfikar Ali Bhutto started the quota system, the ratio of the urban and rural widened,” Sabzwari said in criticism of the PPP.
Earlier, speaking on the National Assembly floor, MQM MNA Rashid Godial lashed out at sloganeers of “Marsoon Marsoon Sindh Na Daisoon”. He stressed on the need to carve out new provinces in the country in the wake of growing population and their needs.
Godial dispelled the impression that making new provinces would disintegrate Pakistan. “In India, new provinces were created last year, but the country did not fall apart,” he opined.
BACKGROUND:
Earlier Sunday, the MQM made headlines by announcing it was parting ways with the Sindh government as a protest against Bilawal insulting its London-based chief Altaf Hussain.
“We are done with our share of sacrifices. Enough is enough. Henceforth, for MQM, working with PPP is like working against democracy,” MQM leader Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said talking to journalist at Nine Zero headquarters in Karachi.
Late Sunday, calling on MQM to revisit its decision of quitting the Sindh government, PPP leader Sharjeel Memon came down hard on the former for levelling unwarranted allegations against his party.
“It’s not wise for the MQM to start picking fights merely over political statements. That said, I must add that had our policy of reconciliation not been holding us back, the MQM would have tasted their own medicine by now,” he had said addressing a press conference following MQM’s announcement of breaking a fragile alliance with PPP with a bang.
Memon, during his unusually long press talk, however, expressed hope that MQM would give its decision a second thought.