Rezaul H Laskar

Islamabad: In a fresh salvo against PPP chairman Asif Ali Zardari, senior leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim has asked parties set to form a coalition government in Pakistan to jointly choose a Prime Minister instead of leaving the choice to an individual.

Amid intensified fighting in the Pakistan People's Party over premiership, party vice-president Fahim, who was once touted as frontrunner, made the observation while presiding over a meeting of the joint parliamentary group of the PPP, PML-N, Awami National Party and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam at the Parliament House yesterday.

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.

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 of the National Assembly, 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.

Three days 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 final decision would be made by the party's central executive committee.

Fahim also said yesterday 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."

Source : PTI