MQM withdraws support for Jamali

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) yesterday announced it was withdrawing support to the four-day-old government of Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, raising the possibility of Jamali's government becoming the shortest in Pakistan's history; it's a dubious distinction it could well share with that of I.I. Chundrigar's in the 50s.

The ethnic group, which represents the immigrant Mohajir community said yesterday that its 17 MNAs would sit in the opposition as the authorities have not acted against what it calls "terrorists" controlling several neighbourhoods of the restive port city of Karachi.

Muttahida leader Farooq Sattar said Jamali had failed to honour promises he made to the group. "Jamali's government can't solve our problems," Sattar said.

"Therefore, we decided to sit on opposition benches, for the sake of democracy and to solve our electorate's problems."

The MQM's announcement to sit on the opposition benches has come as the first major blow to the coalition government of Jamali, elected as the leader of the house and prime minister with the simple majority of just one vote.

The MQM lawmakers in the National Assembly voted for Jamali, who has to face a vote of confidence from the parliament in two months.

If the federal government fails to win back the MQM's support or force defections in other rival parties, the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam-led government looks set to fall.

The MQM, which dominates the urban centres of Sindh, made the shock announcement yesterday at a press conference at the party headquarters called Nine-Zero, just a day ahead of the inaugural session of the Sindh Provincial Assembly.

Observer say the MQM announcement could be a ploy to extract more concessions from Jamali's fragile government as the PML-QA is seeking to forge a coalition government in Sindh province.

Kanwar Khalid Younus, an MQM lawmaker, however told Gulf News that the party has also decided to abstain from the elections of speaker, deputy speaker and the chief minister of the Sindh province, giving rise to the possibility of a dissolution of the assembly and the governor's rule.

The MQM has 41 seats in the Sindh Assembly and is the second biggest party at the provincial level after former premier Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, which has 67 seats in the 163-member house.

Without the MQM's support, no party will get a simple majority in the Sindh Assembly.

Political analysts say that if the deadlock persists and the establishment fails to win back the MQM support, it could not just bring the government down at the centre, it would make government formation in Sindh impossible.

Sattar, deputy convener of the MQM, said that the party has been forced to take the decision of withdrawing its support to the coalition government because the authorities have failed to honour their commitment regarding the so-called "no-go areas."

The neighbourhoods – Landhi, Malir, Shah Faisal Colony and Lines Area – which are controlled by the rival group, the Mohajir Qaumi Movement, are called no-go areas because the workers and leaders of the mainstream Muttahida party were denied entry for the last 10 years despite winning successive elections from there.

The MQM dissidents won control of these areas in 1992 when security forces launched a massive crackdown on the mainstream party forcing its leaders and workers to go into hiding or leave these neighbourhoods.

Since then, the small, but heavily-armed dissident faction has dominated these neighbourhoods.

"We have decided to shutter our offices and camps in the neighbourhoods where terrorists are resorting to violence, threatening the party supporters and attacking our workers," Sattar said.

"Despite the repeated assurances from President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and his close associates, the authorities failed to rehabilitate hundreds of MQM supporters who were forced to leave their homes," he said.

Nor did the authorities take action against the leaders and militants of the dissidents to end their dominance of those neighbourhoods, he added.

Sattar said that the "terrorists" resorted to firing at several places during the last few days, wounding several workers and sympathisers. "The disappointing performance of the authorities and the fear of more violence has forced us to withdraw from the no-go areas again."

"Even President Musharraf seems helpless in front of the powerful section of the establishment, patronising the terrorists", Sattar alleged.

But the dissident faction denied the charges, saying that the Muttahida leaders are trying to "blackmail" the government to get what they want and crush their opponents.

Amir Khan, a central leader of the dissidents, said that his supporters have not indulged in violence. "Our offices are still sealed and the para-military Rangers and police are deployed there. We have not returned to these areas to take charge," he said by telephone from his hideout.

"The Muttahida has failed to serve its voters and is now bent upon losing another opportunity because of its inflexible and confrontationist politics," he said.

The protracted rivalry between the MQM factions has resulted in the killings of hundreds of people since early 1990s.

But since Musharraf came to power in a bloodless coup three years ago, violence between these two groups has receded.

In recent years, the Muttahida is also trying to win the support of other ethnic groups.

The dissident faction opposes the MQM's efforts to represent other ethnic groups as well and wants just to fight for the political and economic rights of the immigrant community.