Political crisis in Pakistan

The second largest party in Pakistan's ruling coalition Sunday quit the government to join the opposition, destabilising the US ally in the war on Al-Qaeda and threatening to paralyse business of state. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) made the announcement days after its two federal cabinet ministers resigned, abandoning crisis talks with the main ruling Pakistan People's Party that had scrambled to keep them on board. An administration that took power less than three years ago following elections has now lost its majority in parliament and faces possible collapse if the opposition unites to pass a vote of no-confidence. "We have decided to sit on opposition benches because the government has not done anything to address the issues we have been protesting about," MQM stalwart Faisal Sabzwari told AFP. MQM has long been at odds with unpopular President Asif Ali Zardari's PPP over political violence in Karachi, tax reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund, corruption and crippling inflation. Without MQM's 25 seats, the PPP's coalition numbers 160 seats in the 342-member national assembly, 12 short of the 172 required for a majority. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani tried to appear calm on live television, telling journalists: "The government is not going to fall." Pakistan is grappling with a depressed economy, the after-effects of devastating floods that hit 21 million people last summer and Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked sanctuaries in its northwest on the Afghan border.