ISLAMABAD: Although the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has joined hands with the PPP in the Sindh government, it is not ready to become a part of the combined opposition at the centre.

The PPP believes that after becoming a coalition partner in the provincial government, the MQM should also cooperate with the party in the Senate and the National Assembly.

“No such understanding was reached between the leadership of the two parties at the time of agreement on joining the Sindh government,” the MQM’s parliamentary leader Dr Farooq Sattar said when asked if his party would become a part of the combined opposition.

Talking to Dawn, he said the MQM would continue to play its role as an independent opposition group in both houses of parliament and would take its own decisions, depending upon the issues.

The MQM, despite sitting on the opposition benches in parliament, has been acting as an independent group for the past year and its members on a number of occasions preferred not to join the protests and walkouts led by the PPP on various issues.

“We cannot decide the nature of our relationship with the ruling PML-N merely on the basis of our relationship with the PPP,” Dr Sattar declared, while criticising the PPP’s policy of “giving a free hand to the PML-N government and waiting for five years”.

The PPP’s parliamentary leader in the Senate, Raza Rabbani, said he could only say that “after joining us in the Sindh government, it is hoped that the MQM will be with us in the next session”.

Senator Rabbani said he did not want to speak further on the matter since the relationship between the two parties was of a ‘sensitive’ nature.

The MQM formally joined the Sindh government last week when two of its members took oath as provincial ministers and three joined the provincial cabinet as advisers.

“They needed us in Sindh and invited us to join them in the province only,” Dr Sattar said, claiming that the PPP had not even talked about cooperation at the centre.

On the other hand, a PPP leader said the matter was a part of the agenda of the talks held between the two parties and an MQM senator had even contacted some PPP senators, informing them that his party would be supporting the combined opposition in the house in future.

When his attention was drawn towards Dr Sattar’s statement, the PPP leader accused the MQM of “always showing double standards and doing politics of confusion”.

He said on one hand the MQM was a part of the Sindh coalition government and on the other hand it had given the call for a strike in the province. “How can a government party give a strike call? Either you are in the government or not,” he said.