Crisis in Pakistan as party quits Cabinet
Pakistan’s ruling party in crisis negotiations
By Associated Press
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s U.S.-allied ruling party is scrambling to keep its fragile coalition government in power as its senior leaders meet with two dissident political partners, urging them to rejoin the Cabinet.
The Pakistan People’s Party-led government faces a crisis with the secular Muttahida Qaumi Movement party quitting its two cabinet posts but remaining in the ruling coalition for now, while the Islamist Jamiat Ulema Islam party defected to the opposition benches in recent days.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik, a senior PPP lawmaker held crisis meetings with MQM and JUI leaders late Tuesday, urging them to support an increasingly unpopular government.
JUI leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s spokesman Hafiz Hussain Ahmad said Wednesday their party would only return to the government if Zardari sacked Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Key Pak coalition party to withdraw cabinet ministers
KARACHI, Dec 28 (agencies): A key party in Pakistan's ruling coalition has said its two ministers are quitting the federal cabinet, dealing a major blow to the government.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) cited corruption and rising prices as the main reasons behind its decision. It said it would decide soon whether it would leave the coalition altogether.
The move comes just weeks after a smaller coalition partner left the cabinet of PM Yusuf Raza Gilani led by his Pakistan People's Party (PPP).
"As a first step, it has been decided that both our federal ministers are leaving the cabinet," the MQM, the second-largest political party in the coalition, said on Monday.
"As far as the decision to part ways with the federal government and the future relationship with the provincial government in Sindh is concerned, a decision will be taken soon."
If the MQM, which dominates the political scene in the city of Karachi, leaves the coalition, Mr Gilani's government would lose its majority in parliament.
The coalition currently holds 181 seats - including the MQM's 25 - in the 342-member parliament. This is just nine more than the 172 needed to preserve its majority.
Earlier this month, Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), a smaller coalition partner, withdrew from the government after a minister belonging to the party was sacked.
Mr Gilani's coalition faces a number of major challengers, including a growing Taliban insurgency.
Another report adds: A US missile strike targeting two militant compounds killed five rebels in Pakistan's restive tribal region bordering Afghanistan Tuesday, local security officials said.
The strike, the second in little over 24 hours, took place in Ghulam Khan village, 20 kilometres (13 miles) east of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal district.
He added that the area was said to be a stronghold of the Haqqani network, which fights foreign troops in Afghanistan.
Among those using bases in North Waziristan are the Haqqani network, created by Afghan warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani and run by his son Sirajuddin; the Afghan Taliban; the Pakistani warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur and his ally Maulvi Sadiq Noor.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s U.S.-allied ruling party is scrambling to keep its fragile coalition government in power as its senior leaders meet with two dissident political partners, urging them to rejoin the Cabinet.
The Pakistan People’s Party-led government faces a crisis with the secular Muttahida Qaumi Movement party quitting its two cabinet posts but remaining in the ruling coalition for now, while the Islamist Jamiat Ulema Islam party defected to the opposition benches in recent days.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik, a senior PPP lawmaker held crisis meetings with MQM and JUI leaders late Tuesday, urging them to support an increasingly unpopular government.
JUI leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s spokesman Hafiz Hussain Ahmad said Wednesday their party would only return to the government if Zardari sacked Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Key Pak coalition party to withdraw cabinet ministers
KARACHI, Dec 28 (agencies): A key party in Pakistan's ruling coalition has said its two ministers are quitting the federal cabinet, dealing a major blow to the government.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) cited corruption and rising prices as the main reasons behind its decision. It said it would decide soon whether it would leave the coalition altogether.
The move comes just weeks after a smaller coalition partner left the cabinet of PM Yusuf Raza Gilani led by his Pakistan People's Party (PPP).
"As a first step, it has been decided that both our federal ministers are leaving the cabinet," the MQM, the second-largest political party in the coalition, said on Monday.
"As far as the decision to part ways with the federal government and the future relationship with the provincial government in Sindh is concerned, a decision will be taken soon."
If the MQM, which dominates the political scene in the city of Karachi, leaves the coalition, Mr Gilani's government would lose its majority in parliament.
The coalition currently holds 181 seats - including the MQM's 25 - in the 342-member parliament. This is just nine more than the 172 needed to preserve its majority.
Earlier this month, Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), a smaller coalition partner, withdrew from the government after a minister belonging to the party was sacked.
Mr Gilani's coalition faces a number of major challengers, including a growing Taliban insurgency.
Another report adds: A US missile strike targeting two militant compounds killed five rebels in Pakistan's restive tribal region bordering Afghanistan Tuesday, local security officials said.
The strike, the second in little over 24 hours, took place in Ghulam Khan village, 20 kilometres (13 miles) east of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal district.
He added that the area was said to be a stronghold of the Haqqani network, which fights foreign troops in Afghanistan.
Among those using bases in North Waziristan are the Haqqani network, created by Afghan warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani and run by his son Sirajuddin; the Afghan Taliban; the Pakistani warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur and his ally Maulvi Sadiq Noor.
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