MQM again seeks opposition benches, PPP calls for review of decision

Published October 21, 2014
THE Muttahida Qaumi Movement members of the Sindh Assembly walk out of the hall on Monday.—White Star
THE Muttahida Qaumi Movement members of the Sindh Assembly walk out of the hall on Monday.—White Star

KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement that had joined the PPP-led Sindh coalition government only this April announced in the provincial assembly session on Monday it was parting with the PPP after accusing it of carrying out a prolonged sinister campaign against the MQM and using derogatory language against its leadership.

The MQM lawmakers requested Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani to allot them seats on the opposition benches and walked out of the house, boycotting the session for the day.

Responding to the move, Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah advised the MQM to do issues-based politics and speak with facts otherwise he would be compelled to come out with facts that the party might not like. He recalled that PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari despite being president of Pakistan had visited Nine Zero and invited them to serve Sindh. He said if someone wanted to quit the government, it was their right, but as far as the government was concerned it would make every effort to maintain law and order and whosoever attempted to disturb it would be dealt with an iron hand. He said the targeted operation was launched with the consent of all political forces which was continuing without any discrimination. He asked who had killed over 250 PPP workers and said it was this government that arrested the killers and terrorists who were convicted by courts. He said if the government was challenged, he would come out with the names of the parties with which these criminals belonged.

Mr Shah said it was regrettable to talk on communal, linguistic and sectarian lines in the house. He said the PPP was the most oppressed party not only whose leadership gave sacrifices but also its workers were sent to the gallows. He asked who was in power when 29 cases had been registered against him, while the PPP leadership had been kept in prison for nine years.

During the last tenure of the government, he said, the MQM lawmakers used to get angry but the PPP got them back and even now it was prepared to bring them back.

He said the party chairman also had offered all parties to join and serve Sindh. Without naming Mehtab Akbar Rashdi, the chief minister said she had asked about conditions on which the MQM used to join the government. It was only to protect Sindh, he said, to put the province on road to development. Even her party (Pakistan Muslim League-Functional) was also in government and even at present the PPP wanted to take them along, he added.

He also recalled the development projects undertaken by the Sindh government in Tharparkar, Mithi and other parts of the province. In Karachi, he said, the PPP government during its last tenure spent Rs64 billion and this year, too, it allocated a Rs26 billion annual development programme besides the foreign-aided projects worth Rs14 billion. He recalled that it was during the Benazir government that a Rs121 billion package had been given to Karachi.

Referring to employment, he said that he had never asked how many people had been recruited in the KMC and water board in the past. The PPP never made any discrimination on an ethnic basis. He said over 1,000 doctors were recruited through the Public Service Commission and most of them were from Karachi. He said whatever language they might speak, all living in Karachi were human beings.

Earlier, Mehtab Akbar Rashdi of the PML-F said why the government had adopted an apologetic attitude and asked the government to adopt transparency and tell people on what terms and conditions the MQM had joined the coalition government. She was of the opinion that the reconciliation policy could not work until the PPP conceded its shortcomings.

She said the government must assure the people that there would be no compromise on the interests of Sindh, as no one could be allowed to compromise on the issue of land, water and the Sindhi language.

Tracing Sindh history right from its separation from the then Bombay presidency to the adoption of the Pakistan resolution by the Sindh Assembly, senior minister Nisar Ahmad Khuhro said the natives welcomed all those who had left India to settle in Sindh after the partition. He said what was wrong if the Sindhi language bill had been passed by the Sindh Assembly in 1970 and the quota system introduced to give access to education and jobs to the underprivileged.

He said it was strange that the MQM leaders claimed they were sons of Sindh and yet raised the ethnic issue time and again in order to divide Sindh.

Mr Khuhro said that extremely inappropriate language had been used against the PPP chairman.

He advised the ‘MQM friends’ to find justification for talking about development of cities and neglecting rural areas at the same time.

Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said all those living in Karachi were brothers. “We would not allow anyone to pit people against each other,” he said. He advised the MQM to keep serving the people of Sindh instead of fighting on ‘unpleasant remarks’. In the Oct 18th rally, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and party co-chairman Asif Zardari had also talked of reconciliation and they had extended invitation to all parties including the MQM to join hands and work for the progress and prosperity of Sindh and Pakistan, he said.

Before Speaker Durrani, who called the house in order at 12 noon, could take up the business from the order of the day on a point of order gave the floor to MQM Parliamentary Party leader Syed Sardar Ahmad.

Referring to ‘a calculated move’ by the ruling party to discredit their coalition partner, he said that the MQM tolerated it but now the derogatory and insulting language which was used against MQM chief Altaf Hussain had pained everyone. It had been settled that nothing would be said against the chief of any party but this principle was not followed, he said.

Before announcing quitting the treasury benches, they also referred to the discrimination against Karachiites in jobs, grant of development funds and the direction of the ongoing operation and said they could no more share corruption and wrongdoings of the government. “We cannot go together,” he said.

Requesting Speaker Durrani to allot seats to the MQM lawmaker on the opposition benches, the parliamentary leader announced that they were going to boycott the Monday session and stage a walkout of the house.

He said the MQM coordination committee decided to sit on the opposition benches and continued to raise voice not only to remove sense of deprivation of the citizens but also for rural population who were living below the poverty line.

Recalling that they had also met Speaker Durrani in his chamber while filing an application for allotment of seats on the opposition benches, MQM Deputy Parliamentary leader Khwaja Izhar-ul- Hassan said MQM and Altaf Hussain had opened a new chapter by burying the hatred of the past but the party did nothing in return. “He talks against our leader, while we have never used derogatory language against any party chief.” There was grief and sorrow among followers and sympathisers of the MQM but they were showing restraint because of the teachings of the party leadership.

He referred to the statement of the PPP leader of opposition in the national assembly Syed Khursheed Shah against Mohajir and said they were feudal lords who used to call the Urdu-speaking people ‘Tileer, Makkar, and Bhayye’. “We have not occupied anyone’s property,” he said.

Whenever the MQM informed the chief minister and ministers about our reservations on any issue and raised matters through resolutions and adjournment motions, the party didn’t get any positive response from the PPP, he said.

During the past six years, he said, this assembly had passed Rs700 billion budget but it was a matter of pain to say that even two per cent of the budget was not spent on Karachi. Rights of the urban areas of Sindh were trampled. Huge revenue was collected from the city but its residents were deprived of drinking water, he said. Promises were never honoured and there was no part of Sindh where development had been carried out, he added.

However, he said that quitting the government did not mean they had surrendered their resources to the government. He also warned the bureaucracy not to pursue “the anti-Karachiite, Sindh policy,” if the MQM would not be in the government the party leaders would be among people and the bureaucrats could be made accountable by the people on the roads. “We would continue our struggle. We have only changed our strategy but will not give up our struggle to achieve rights of deprived people.”

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2014

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