Pakistan's unpopular coalition government came under further pressure Tuesday with its second-largest partner poised to quit the cabinet and a leading politician calling on the prime minister to resign. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) said it was withdrawing its two ministers from the federal cabinet in a move that could threaten the narrow parliamentary majority of President Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP).
"Both the ministers were in London. They are on their way to Pakistan," an MQM spokesman, Qamar Mansoor, told AFP. "We expect their arrival in the evening. As soon as they land here they will tender their resignation from the cabinet." The MQM has so far deferred any decision on leaving the coalition and joining the opposition.
The party has 25 lawmakers in the national assembly but only two ministers in the federal cabinet - Babar Ghauri for ports and shipping and Farooq Sattar for overseas Pakistanis. Nevertheless, the resignations will be a blow for the PPP just weeks after the country's most prominent religious party took its three cabinet ministers and seven lawmakers out of the government, sparking fears of a domino effect.
The religious party's leader and Pakistan's most prominent Islamic politician, pro-Taliban cleric Fazlur Rehman, said there was no chance of rejoining the government and demanded Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani resign. "The prime minister should resign and the PPP should appoint a new one," Rehman told reporters.
His Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUIF) party walked out on December 14 after Gilani sacked one of its three cabinet ministers over a war of words with religious affairs minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi, a PPP member, who was also fired. Their spat related to a corruption scandal reportedly implicating Kazmi's ministry in booking accommodation for tens of thousands of Pakistani pilgrims.
"He (Gilani) has sabotaged the process of reconciliation among coalition partners and his actions have caused political instability in the country," said Rehman, wearing an orange turban. The departure of JUIF reduced the PPP's coalition to 185 seats in the 342-member national assembly, just 13 higher than the required 172. Support from the MQM, which represents the Urdu-speaking majority in Pakistan's financial capital of Karachi, is crucial to the government.
The loss of its 25 lawmakers would leave the coalition in a parliamentary minority and could bring down the government. Announcing the imminent resignations late Monday, MQM accused the government of failing to curb corruption and control inflation. Its relations with the PPP have soured over an explosion of political violence in Karachi, which saw more than 155 people killed earlier this year.
The murders were linked to MQM loyalists and their rivals from the Awami National Party (ANP), which represents Pashtun migrants from north-west. One MQM leader said the resignations were in response to a row after the home minister of Sindh, Zulfiqar Mirza, said most of the suspects detained in recent months over targeted killings were MQM members.
"The decision has been taken because the government did not pay any heed to our complaints about the remarks of Sindh home minister maligning the MQM," Faisal Sabzwari told reporters. The party complained to Gilani and Zardari about it, but were unhappy with their response.