The Hindu : International : Stage set for election of Shujaat Hussain

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 29, 2004

International

International

Stage set for election of Shujaat Hussain

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, JUNE 28 . A day after Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali stepped down as Prime Minister; floor managers of the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam) and its allies were working overtime today to ensure the smooth passage of the election a new Leader of the House and Prime Minister on the floor of the National Assembly tomorrow.

The prime ministerial nominee of the PML (QA), Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, and Makhdoom Amin Faheem of the Pakistan People's Party-Parliamentarians, filed their nomination papers as candidates for the office of the Prime Minister and Leader of the House in the National Assembly respectively. While Mr. Hussain is the candidate of the ruling combine, Mr. Fahim is the candidate of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD). The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), an alliance of six religious parties, chose not to field a candidate as a matter of strategy.

Tomorrow would be as much a test for the ruling combine as the Opposition. Under the Pakistan Constitution, for a candidate to be declared as Leader of the House, one has to secure the confidence of at least 50 per cent of the total strength of the National Assembly.

The former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party appears to have fielded a candidate not so much to score a point against the ruling combine but against the religious parties. The PPP and the other like-minded parties had taken serious exception to the decision of the National Assembly Speaker, Chaudhary Amir Hussain, to declare the MMA leader, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, as the Leader of the Opposition, a few days ago.

In tomorrow's election, the PPP wants to prove that it is the real Opposition in the House.

It appears that there were murmurs among the leaders of the ruling combine over the `imposition' of Shaukat Aziz as the new Prime Minister, once he is elected to the National Assembly. The move is seen as an attempt by the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, and the military to "rob" even the limited role given to the political class in the current dispensation. Ruling party managers are worried that this sentiment among their leaders could affect voting on the floor of the House.

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