MQM stages walkout

MQM legislators stage walkout from National Assembly session in protest against hike in petroleum prices.

ISLAMABAD: MQM legislators staged a token walkout from the National Assembly session in protest against the recent increase in the prices of petroleum products.

Lawmaker Waseem Akhtar told the House that the increase in prices of petroleum products would aggravate the problems of the common man. He added that there was no justification for this increase at a time when the country was facing a financial crunch. He said the MQM lawmakers were  staging a walkout from the session because the government had not taken its allied parties into confidence on this important decision. However, Deputy Speaker Faisal Kareem Kundi directed cabinet members Babar Awan and Hameedullah Jan Afridi to convince the MQM lawmakers to return to the House. The MQM legislators returned to the house after a meeting with the two ministers.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2010.