Fahim says don’t leave choice to just one man

Coalition partners had earlier told Zardari that they would accept a PPP candidate for the top post. In an obvious reference to Zardari, Fahim said the leadership of the parties in the new alliance should jointly name a candidate for premiership instead of leaving the choice to an individual.

Fahim also said that he would be in the race for premiership till a decision is announced by Zardari.

When a reporter pointed out that PPP leader Farzana Raja had said that the PPP had finalised its prime ministerial candidate who would be named shortly, an irked Fahim shot back: “I want to hear that from Zardari and not from Farzana Raja.”

About 240 parliamentarians, including 10 independent lawmakers from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, attended the meeting. Senior PPP leader Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, pitted against Fahim in the race for premiership, objected to Fahim presiding over the meeting in the absence of Zardari.

He said the gathering should be presided over by PPP’s chief whip Khurshid Shah before walking out in a huff. He refused to speak to mediapersons.

Nearly a month after the general election, the PPP is yet to announce its prime ministerial candidate. Later, speaking at the National Assembly after the election of PPP leader Fehmida Mirza as the first woman Speaker, Fahim took an apparent swipe at Zardari.

Lauding Zardari for the PPP’s success in the recent polls, Fahim said “He is a friend of friends and always keeps the promises he makes. He is known to the whole of Pakistan for this virtue. I hope he will continue to keep his promises,” he added.

Observers felt this was a reference to Zardari’s comment that his slain wife, former premier Benazir Bhutto, had wanted Fahim to be the prime minister.

After Bhutto’s assassination on December 27, Zardari had said she wanted Fahim, who hails from Sindh, to be the PPP’s candidate for premiership though a decision would be made by the party’s central executive committee.

Parliament to meet on Monday

•ISLAMABAD: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has reconvened the newly-elected National Assembly for Monday to elect a prime minister following his opponents’ poll victory last month, his spokesman said on Thursday. “The president today summoned the national assembly for March 24,” spokesman Rashid Qureshi said.

•A suicide car bomb killed five soldiers on Thursday near the Afghan border, the military said. Another nine soldiers were wounded in the attack in South Waziristan’s main town of Wana, Pakistan’s military said in a statement. Al Qaeda and Taliban-linked militants are believed to operate in the remote tribal area near Afghanistan.

•A suspect in an October bombing against Benazir Bhutto has issued legal notices to the publisher, printer and seller of her memoir accusing them of defamation and claiming $ 22 million in damages. A lawyer for Qari Saifullah Akhtar says his client has been falsely named as a planner of an attack in Karachi that killed about 150 people welcoming Bhutto’s return from exile.