After remaining part of the successive ruling elites, the Mutthida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has now decided to sit on the opposition benches both in the National and Sindh Assemblies. Such a decision was highly unlikely since the general perception was that the MQM cannot afford to stay out of the corridors of power for understandably good reasons. The decision was announced on Wednesday after a meeting of the Muttahida’s coordination committees which held simultaneous sessions in London and Pakistan. The MQM also decided to contest for the seat of Chief Minster Sindh, and has proposed its senior leader Syed Sardar Ahmed as its candidate to contest against the PPP’s former CM Qaim Ali Shah.
The MQM is the second largest party in Sindh having won 49 seats which means that it would certainly give a tough time to PPP’s government in the province. Questions are being raised as to what prompted the MQM leadership to take such a drastic decision. One logical explanation is that despite being in the government for well over a decade, the party’s vote bank has eroded creating room for Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) candidates to secure second largest number of votes in each constituency of the Sindh metropolitan city, otherwise believed to be MQM’s jurisdiction. The situation infuriated the big boss Altaf Hussain who forced radical changes in the existing hierarchy including the Rabita and organizational committees shunting out some stalwarts. Some close associates of MQM chief are of the view that Altaf Hussain felt let down and accused the party leaders of keeping him in the dark over PTI’s gaining ground. Although no plausible explanation is available from the party sources as to why MQM had decided to sit in the opposition, it appears that since both the PPP in Sindh and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) in the Centre did not seek their support nor either of them asked them to join hands in government making process, the MQM was left with no other option.