Yousuf Raza Gilani has been caught between the demands of political opponents and the IMF Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has pulled his government back from the brink, persuading a former ally to rejoin the coalition.
The Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), which walked out last Sunday, relented a day after Mr Gilani defied the IMF with a climbdown on fuel price rises.
After talks with the MQM in Karachi, Mr Gilani also confirmed there would be no tax reform soon – another IMF demand.
As well as rampant militancy, Pakistan faces the threat of hyper inflation.
The sense of crisis has been growing in the country after Tuesday’s assassination by his bodyguard of an outspoken liberal governor of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party.
Mr Gilani’s car was showered with rose petals as he arrived to meet MQM leaders on Friday in Karachi, the capital of the southern province of Sindh.
“The Muttahida Qaumi Movement announces it will sit on the government benches in the larger interest of the country and democracy,” senior MQM member Raza Haroon told a news conference with Mr Gilani afterwards.
The MQM pulled out two ministers from the federal cabinet last month, and decided on Sunday it would cross over to the opposition benches in the parliament.
The MQM’s change of heart comes a day after the prime minister told parliament fuel prices would be restored to the levels they were on 31 December.
The MQM had walked out condemning the 9% rise in the price of petrol and kerosene, leaving the prime minister facing a possible no-confidence vote.
Mr Gilani’s U-turn was criticised on Thursday as a “mistake” by the US and by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has been withholding part of an $11bn (£7bn) loan to Pakistan.
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