Pakistan's ruling coalition suffered its second major setback this month as the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, MQM, the second largest party in the alliance, announced it is pulling its two ministers out of the federal cabinet. Senior MQM leader Faisal Sabzwari told the media that the party's two ministers would resign from their posts because the Pakistan People's Party, which leads the coalition, had not treated his party's views and advice with seriousness. The MQM's move came in the wake of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam's decision earlier this month to pull out of the coalition following the sacking of one of its ministers by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. Relations between the PPP and the MQM, which has its powerbase among Urdu-speaking people in the financial hub of Karachi, became strained after senior PPP leader and provincial Home Minister Zuulfiqar Mirza alleged that the MQM was behind ethnic violence in the port city.