ISLAMABAD / KARACHI, March 16: Taking notice of reports about extortion menacing the business community in Karachi, President Asif Ali Zardari asked Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Friday to take measures against the scourge in coordination with the Sindh government.

The reports assumed seriousness when the MQM announced that its legislators would boycott a joint sitting of the two houses of parliament to be addressed by the president on Saturday.

The president sought a detailed report on the issue of increasing incidents of extortion in the city that was forcefully raised in the National Assembly by Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s legislators who also staged a walkout.

President’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said he had taken serious notice of complaints of extortion and poor law and order situation in Karachi.

He said the president had asked the interior minister to go to Karachi and act in coordination with the provincial government to redress the grievances of people, particularly of traders.

The spokesman said MQM chief Altaf Hussain had also brought to the president’s attention complaints of extortion in Karachi.

The PPP respected its coalition partners and would redress the concerns of the MQM, he quoted the president as saying.

Talking to Dawn, MQM leader Haider Abbas Rizvi said President Zardari had called Mr Altaf and assured him of action.

“We have come to know that action has been started in Karachi and some arrests have been made after the president’s assurances.

“That’s why we will attend the joint sitting of both houses of parliament,” he said referring to the president address scheduled for Saturday.

He said a call for a strike in Karachi had been given by traders.

Earlier, the MQM had announced after a meeting of its coordination committee held simultaneously in Karachi and London that its parliamentarians would boycott the president’s address in protest against what it termed the government’s inaction against “extortion mafia” in Karachi.

The MQM had also been protesting in the Sindh Assembly against increasing incidents of extortion from the business community and kidnappings for ransom.

The party having 25 members in the lower house of parliament and seven senators is a coalition partner of the PPP governments at the centre and in Sindh.

The meeting also decided to observe a protest day in the province against what it described as partisan and autocratic attitude of provincial lawmakers of the Pakistan People’s Party.

It said no action had been taken by the federal and provincial governments against the extortion mafia despite MQM’s peaceful protests in the assemblies.

“Only non-serious statements were made and President Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have not intervened in this regard,” a statement issued after the meeting said.

The MQM also decided to continue its peaceful protests at every forum as long as practical steps were not taken to crush the extortion mafia in the city.

The meeting assured the business community of Karachi that the MQM would not abandon them and would support them in every possible manner to protect their rights.