The Pakistan People's Party is set to announce its candidate for prime minister later on Saturday even as the opposition withdrew their nominee for the post following a request from PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari. Opposition Muttahida Qaumi Movement on Friday decided to withdraw party leader Farooq Sattar as its joint candidate with ally PML-Q for sthe post of prime minister, paving the way for the PPP nominee to be elected unopposed.
Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party has suffered setbacks in country's biggest ever by-polls for 41 national and provincial assembly constituencies, in which the ruling PML-N appeared to have consolidated its position.
Former premier Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N on Wednesday said that it would finalise its response, to a constitutional reforms package drawn up by its ally Pakistan People's Party to clip the sweeping powers of President Pervez Musharraf, by Thursday.A committee formed by Sharif to examine the package met for the second time in the day and its chairman Raja Zafrul Haq said the panel had completed reviewing two-thirds of the contents of the package.
According to the Constitution, a person has be at least 25 years old to become a member of the Parliament. Thus, Bilawal is ineligible to be the chairperson of the PPP. Under the law, he cannot hold any party position till he turns 25.
Paksitan's People's Party nominee Fehmida Mirza, a loyalist of slain former Premier Benazir Bhutto, was on Wednesday elected the first woman Speaker of Pakistan's National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament. 51-year-old Mirza, who has been thrice elected to Parliament, won 249 of the 324 votes cast by the newly-elected members of the National Assembly.
Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik created a sand sculpture to pay tribute to former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto at a beach in Puri.
A total of 328 MPs of the 342-member National Assembly were sworn in by outgoing Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain, after which the House offered special prayers for slain former premier and Zardari's wife Benazir Bhutto who was killed in a suicide attack on a pre-poll rally in December. Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif, who did not contest the election, watched the proceedings from the gallery reserved for guests.
The Pakistan's Peoples Party, set to head Pakistan's new coalition government, is understood to have decided in principle to nominate Asif Ali Zardari for the premiership, a post he will be eligible to occupy only after his election to the National Assembly. The single largest party is also offering Makhdoom Amin Fahim, till recently the front-runner for office of prime minister, the position of PPP parliamentary leader in the National Assembly.
Although Sharif wanted Musharraf to be arrested and tried in a court of law on charges of treason, Zardari has convinced his new political partner to allow Musharraf an honourable exit by requesting him to step down. The new allies, however. decided that if Musharraf refused to step down, they would seek his impeachment.
In the first sign of cracks in the Pakistan People's Party, senior party leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim has said party chairman Asif Ali Zardari's 'unnecessary delay' in naming him as the prime minister has led to the perception that he was being 'humiliated and betrayed'. Asked what would be his reaction if he was not given the post of prime minister, Fahim said: 'I have a roadmap in my mind but I would reveal it only once the decision about the name is announced.'
Three new victors -- the Pakistan People's Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Awami National Party have shown their majority many days ago, but President Pervez Musharraf is playing delaying games and using secret agencies to break the majority party PPP from the PML faction of Nawaz Sharif.
The PPP, PML-N and ANL together hold 225 out of the required 228 seats to gain a two-thirds majority, which would give the coalition the power to impeach President Musharraf and revoke presidential powers to dissolve the National Assembly.
Suspense over Pakistan's next prime minister continued with the Pakistan People's Party, which will head a planned coalition government, on Thursday delaying a decision on its nominee amid differences over the frontrunner Makhdoom Amin Fahim.
In a sign of growing rancour between Pakistan's ruling coalition partners, Pakistan People's Party chairman Asif Ali Zardari has lashed out at Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president Shahbaz Sharif for not taking steps to release his friend, who is in a Punjab jail for nine years on charges of drug smuggling. The PML-N president has reportedly turned down the request though his party is in power in Punjab.
The 52-year-old former cricketer and commentator who is also a popular television personality, was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in April.
Facing a rout in other parts of the country, Congress retained power securing three-fourth majority in the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly snapping up 40 of the 60 seats and leading in two.
The Bush administration has said it continues to support embattled President Pervez Musharraf, whose allies were routed in Pakistan's general election, while maintaining that Washington has no role in the formation of a new government in Islamabad.
A single-judge bench of the Sindh high court gave the verdict in response to a review petition filed by the PPP leader's lawyer. The court acquitted Pakistan's former high commissioner to Britain Wajid Shasmul Hassan who was also an accused in the case.
Some promises made in Benazir Butto's new manifesto strike at the very root of Musharraf's power base while others -- including handing over control of the Military Initelligence and the nuclear arsenal to the prime minister -- go even beyond that.
Bhutto, who was scheduled to go on a four-day trip to Dubai where her husband Asif Ali Zardari, her daughter and her mother currently live, was stopped at the international airport in Islamabad.
Pakistan's ruling coalition on Monday appeared to be on the verge of a split after the PPP failed to reach an agreement with its key ally PML-N on the contentious issue of reinstating dozens of judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf during last year's emergency. Three days of talks in London between Pakistan People's Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and their close aides ended in deadlock on Sunday due to differences on the modalities fo
Some elements in an intelligence agency were using their links in the PPP and the media to establish that Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan is trying to become a candidate for the position of either the prime minister or the president through the PML-N. But their efforts to create a rift between the two opposition parties, which are planning to form a coalition government, failed.
A committee formed by former premier Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party and her political rival Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party has completed 80 per cent of its work on drawing up the charter of demands, which is expected to be completed on Thursday.
The names of PPP's Punjab Province president and formal Federal minister Shah Mehmood Quereshi, senior leader Yousuf Reza Gillani and firebrand lawyer Aitaz Ahsan were also doing the rounds for the top post.
Pakistan People's Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari overcame pressure and enticement from President Pervez Musharraf's camp and the United States to not align with former premier Nawaz Sharif's party, to form a coalition government with the PML-N, a media report said on Friday.
Pakistan's main opposition parties Pakistan Muslim League-N and Pakistan People's Party on Tuesday jointly mustered a simple majority in the new Parliament, local TVchannels said.
Tuki met Governor Tathagata Roy on Friday and sought the postponement of the floor test.
The United States had warned that it could invoke sanctions against the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project in future, Sharif said without giving details.
A week before Pakistanis vote in the parliamentary elections, the "vast majority" -- 75 percent -- want President Pervez Musharraf to leave office, with his approval rating touching a new low of 15 per cent, the Washington Post reported.
In another strong indication how difficult it would be for the former military ruler to cling on to power, the poll found that the two main opposition parties -- the Pakistan People's Party and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) -- had a combined backing of an overwhelming 72 per cent.
''In terms of the investigation itself by Scotland Yard, we view this as a credible investigation by independent, outside experts,'' State Department spokesman Tom Casey said. ''We don't have any reason why we would question the validity of their assessment,'' he added.
Zardari explained to journalists who met him in Bhutto's ancestral village of Naudero that he, like the Congress President, wanted to take a back seat and let the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leadership decide things.
By indulging in agitation, Bhutto, the leader of Pakistan People's Party, is "strengthening the impression that she is sure of her party's defeat in the elections", Musharraf said at a farewell meeting with members of the outgoing assembly of Punjab province. "The politicians, including Benazir Bhutto, who are pursuing agitational politics, should do away with it and focus on electioneering so that elections could be held in a peaceful atmosphere," he said.
Zardari also said that though President Pervez Musharraf had a role to play in the new set-up, the Pakistan People's Party would think about impeaching him when the ruling coalition achieves a two-thirds majority in parliament. The PPP co-chairman refused to give a firm commitment that he would become the prime minister but said he would assume the office if the need arises. Zardari had last month nominated Yousuf Raza Gillani for the post of premier.
Boucher said the Bush administration was satisfied with investigations carried out by Pakistani authorities along with the Scotland Yard.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf held a detailed meeting with co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party Asif Ali Zardari and reportedly sought unanimity of views on host of issues.
Speaking to a television channel over phone from Saudi Arabia, he said, "If Benazir abandons her negotiations with Musharraf, we can work together and launch a joint struggle."
Undeterred by the government's ban on public meetings under emergency rule, former premier Benazir Bhutto-led Pakistan People's Party on Wednesday vowed to go ahead with a planned rally in the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi on Friday.
Nine candidates on Wednesday filed nominations for Pakistan's presidential election, with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's India-born nominee Mamnoon Hussain emerging a clear frontrunner for the poll to be held on July 30.
Pakistan People's Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has said that the office of President of Pakistan was the 'right' of his party and the Sindh province. He added that a dedicated worker of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto's party would soon be installed at the post.''I know it very well that there are some remnants of dictatorship, who want to destabilise the coalition government,'' he said without naming President Pervez Musharraf and his political allies.
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