PML-N: No MQM at Centre

Islamabad, March 24: The PML(N) has threatened to act against any move to include Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in Pakistan’s new coalition government citing the party’s close association with President Pervez Musharraf.

"We, as well as those Urdu-speaking people who are not part of the MQM, have reservations over the MQM’s inclusion in the coalition government because we know who was behind the May 12 carnage in Karachi (2007) that left 48 people dead," PML(N) chief Nawaz Sharif told reporters in Mansehra on Sunday.

Mr Sharif was referring to riots that erupted in the southern port city of Karachi in 2007 when former Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was scheduled to address lawyers as part of his campaign against President Pervez Musharraf’s efforts to sack him.

The MQM led by Altaf Hussian which controlled Karachi’s city government was widely blamed for the violence. The PML(N) will accept talks between the PPP and the MQM for the formation of a government in Sindh province but it will "evolve its own course of action if any effort is made to finalise any power-sharing formula for the Centre," said PML(N) leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.

Meanwhile, Mr Nawaz Sharif will boycott the swearing-in ceremony of Pakistan’s new Prime Minister on Tuesday to protest against Pervez Musharraf’s presence whom he has called "an illegal and unconstitutional" President.

"His (Sharif’s) participation in a presidency-hosted function is out of the question," PML(N) spokesman Ahsan Iqbal said on Sunday.

Mr Asif Ali Zardari, chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party that is heading the coalition government, was yet to decide whether he would attend the ceremony, party spokesman Farhatullah Babar said. The new Premier who will head the coalition government being formed by PPP, PML (N) and ANP will be sworn in by President Musharraf during the ceremony to be held at 11 am on Tuesday. (PTI)