Not on same page: MQM parts ways with opposition

ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI: The MQM distanced itself from the opposition parties on the Panama leaks issue on Tuesday.

The party was among the combined opposition, which staged a walkout from the National Assembly after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif delivered a clarification speech on Monday.

MQM lawmaker Ali Raza Abidi told The Express Tribune that the party will neither support the government nor the opposition, and will come up with its own strategy.

“We demand investigations in the offshore companies of Imran Khan, the Sharif family, and whoever has been named in the Panama Papers,” he said.

The MQM leader said the party felt that Monday’s boycott by the opposition was a “lost opportunity”.

“We never wanted to walk out. We had a lot to say in parliament and wanted to speak there,” he added.

MQM senators Mian Atiq and Barrister Saif had been representing the party during the meeting of the combined opposition.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2016.