Major Party Vows To Quit Pakistan's Ruling Coalition

[HuffingtonPost]

By Matthew Green                

KARACHI, Pakistan, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Pakistan's Muttahida  Qaumi Movement (MQM) threatened to quit the ruling coalition on  Saturday, piling fresh pressure on President Asif Ali Zardari  ahead of elections due this spring.                

The MQM, which dominates the commercial capital Karachi,  said it would leave the coalition to protest against the  authorities' decision to drop charges against a group of murder  suspects accused of links to Zardari's ruling Pakistan People's  Party (PPP).                

"The government has given a free hand to criminals," senior  MQM leader Farooq Sattar told a news conference in Karachi,  Pakistan's biggest city and capital of the southern Sindh  Province.                

Zardari's government could survive a walk-out by the MQM  since his ruling coalition would still retain a majority in the  national assembly in Islamabad.                

Nevertheless, the potential loss of one of its key coalition  partners would be a blow to the PPP, which is gearing up for a  tough election battle after a five-year tenure marred by  allegations of corruption, cronyism and incompetence.                

Critics say Pakistan's politicians have been so preoccupied  with the intricacies of coalition politics that they have  devoted too little attention to tackling issues from militant  violence to a chronic power crisis and the soaring cost of  living since the last general elections in 2008.                

The MQM has a record of repeatedly rescinding previous  threats to leave Zardari's coalition after wringing concessions  from his government and it was unclear how quickly law-makers  and ministers belonging to the party would implement their  latest pledge to quit.                

A party spokesman said MQM's members of the federal and  provincial cabinets were in the process of preparing their  resignation letters late on Saturday.                

In the face of past ruptures, senior PPP leaders have  rapidly intervened to convince the MQM to stay with the  coalition.                

The Sindh provincial government angered the MQM this week by  deciding to drop murder and other serious charges against eight  suspected criminals who MQM believes form the core of a Karachi  militia force allied to the PPP.                

Human rights activists say, however, that it is the MQM  itself that controls the most formidable armed wing of any  political party in the city, where hundreds of people were  killed last year in turf wars between rival factions.                

Some observers believe the MQM's main motive for leaving the  coalition is to assert its independence from the PPP ahead of  the polls, which are expected in May.                

The volatility of the pre-election landscape was laid bare  in January when cleric Muhammad Tahirul Qadri triggered  Pakistan's latest political crisis by leading tens of thousands  of followers on a march on the capital to demand electoral  reforms.                

The stand-off was resolved after talks with the government,  but the episode served as a reminder of the difficulty of  predicting what may happen at the polls.                

The PPP-led coalition is hoping to become the first  civilian-led, elected government to complete a five-year term  and hold elections, which would be a milestone in Pakistan's  attempts to bury the legacy of decades of military rule.     (Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmad; Editing by Rosalind  Russell)

Via: HuffingtonPost