ISLAMABAD – Chairman Senate and Speaker National Assembly on Monday allotted opposition benches to Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in the Parliament after it parted ways with the ruling PPP last week.
The MQM had applied for the opposition benches in both houses of the parliament after it quit the coalition government. Apart from the federal government, the MQM has also quit the PPP government in Sindh. Syed Sardar Ahmed of the MQM has already been named as Leader of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly.
Meanwhile, MQM's sudden split from the PPP is being viewed with suspicions by other opposition parties. On Sunday, PML-N President Nawaz Sharif cast doubt about the genuineness of MQM's decision to quit the coalition government after sharing the treasury benches for four years and 11 months.
On February 17, MQM leaders and its Sindh Assembly representatives had protested issuance of a notification by the PPP-led provincial government about withdrawing target killing and murder cases filed against gangsters based in Lyari.
The repealing of the Sindh People’s Local Government Act (SPLGA) added insult to the injury. The MQM members protested strongly against the repealing of the act.
The ordinance was prepared after strong negotiations between the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the MQM in 2012.