ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - The Pakistani government's reversal of a controversial economic measure won back the support of the second-largest party in its coalition Friday and staved off a possible collapse, but it also increased tensions with the United States and other international donors.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement's return, which restored the ruling coalition's parliamentary majority, came a day after Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani announced that the government would capitulate to the party's key demand by canceling a recent increase in fuel prices. That decision drew stern criticism from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
While the MQM's move resolved the latest political crisis to rock the volatile, U.S.-backed nation, it also highlighted how beholden President Asif Ali Zardari's ruling Pakistan People's Party is to its coalition partners. Gillani said the government would also drop a proposal for an expanded sales tax that it had promised to the International Monetary Fund and that the United States had also encouraged. That proposal, too, was opposed by the MQM and opposition parties.