No surprises there really. That was widely expected
PPPP endorses Fahim, says NA to decide on judges
** PPPP MNAs vow end to presidential powers to dismiss assemblies *
** Fahim says he declined earlier offers to become governor, PM*
By Zulfiqar Ghuman
ISLAMABAD: Elected members from the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) decided on Friday that Makhdoom Amin Fahim would be their candidate for prime minister and the National Assembly (NA) would decide the fate of the judges sacked on November 3, party sources said.
In a meeting at the Zardari House in Islamabad, they also vowed an end to the presidential powers to dismiss assemblies, a PPP press release said.
The party decided to address the removal of judges by President Pervez Musharraf on November 3 through a resolution in the NA. The resolution, they said, would give complete financial and administrative independence to the judiciary.
Amin Fahim: Amin Fahim told the meeting that General Ziaul Haq had offered to make him the governor of Punjab and President Pervez Musharraf had offered him the seat of prime minister, but he rejected the offers because of his commitment to democracy.
Zardari briefed the meeting on his contacts with other political parties to form a government of national consensus.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Finance Secretary Pervaiz Malik told Daily Times that his party would not accept anything short of the restoration of the sacked judges.
You are right, no surprise here. Actually if PPP had come up with any other name, it would be considered shocking. Amin Faheem is a very experienced politician, who knows realities of political life in Pakistan. He is dedicated, loyal and composed. Expect no fireworks, nor much creativity in government.
My guess is that this is a stop-gap measure. Remains to be seen what are the long term ambitions of Mr Zardari.
ps. I am watching Geo news right now (8 am Pakistan time - Saturday) and they are reporting that right now there is no decision on PM candidate at this time.
Actually I was watching GEO news at lunch time in UK and one of the PPP MNAs (forgetting his name) was being interviewed by a GEO reporter. The MNA said very clearly that a decision had been made on PM candidate during the meeting and the party leadership would disclose his name most likely tomorrow (i.e. Saturday)
Last night I watched a strip on GEO running Fahim's statements from last evening after a party meeting and he said
"I have been offered PMslots4 times in the past" "PPP is considering whether to form govt or not".
Either they are creating confusion or there really is confusion among the party leaders regarding what the final decisions are going to be.
Without disclosing the name of the source I am breaking latest rumor from inside closed PPP sources...Ch. Ahmad Mukhtar will be PPP candidate for Prime Minister post...
I predicted sometime ago the problem of PPP is not Sindh....to keep their vote bank in Sindh Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari are enough...they need to revitalise the party in Punjab...for this reason the selected Ahmad Mukhtar...
Amin Faheem is not happy and for last two days is telling his sacrifices in the media...he has gone to Muree to meet Nawaz Sharif...ok folks...you can keep discussing the latest rumor..I got to go....
I too have heard from some PPP sources that candidate is 'not' Amin Fahim, actually i heard that it might be Yousef Raza Gilani. But one thing does seem to come from PPP inner circles that it may not be Amin Fahim.
^Gilani would be high risk because he is still on bail. As a rule of thumb political leaders are loathe to allow people from their constituencies to develop a power base. PML-q backed jamali rather than a punjabi, anp has backed non pashto speakers as cms etc
If that is the case then Aitezaz Ahsan is an ideal candidate for PM of Pakistan. I don't know about Ahmad Mukhtar. Can you tell him about more? Is he the same person who being minister (perhaps Health in BB's first government), known as the honest man and travelling in his private Suzuki Alto without any escort to perform his official duties. PPP has excellent people for PMship, though PML N has also one or two, Javed Hashmi is one of them.
Aitezaz is not a good candidate for PPP mainly because he has had too much media attention lately and that is not liked by senior party members, this gives them an opportunity to hijack the party. Same is the case in Javed Hashmi, sharif brathraan will never let anyone from the party to become more famous than them.
Aitazaz Ahsan :k:
Yes, in punjab we have this word about Gilani being spread. I dont really feel he deserves though. Amin Fahim could have been the 2nd best choice.
is this the same chaudhray mukhtar who had a murder case against him at one time? or may be that was a different person, not sure. something about being robbed in Islamabad as well while hiking up to daman-e-koh.
aalsi i have a tohfa for you in image gallery, hope you wont mind the joke. :D
Musharraf's best bet would be to back off and not piss anyone off right now because Bush is on his way out in a few months. Democrats are for sure not going to be big fans of Ex-General. Sooner or later, he will have to leave. Like it or not.
He should hope for later than sooner, while we're hopeful it'll be sooner than later.
I think Americans and Europeans will find it very easy to work with Amin Fahim because he's a pretty easy guy to get along with. They've all dealt with him a countless number of times before. He will serve as a buffer to the eroding image of Pakistan, and hopefully sustain the damage done more recently by suicide bombing and what have you.
I personally believe with a truly democratic and elected setup in place, American will be cautious on their demands because it's not a General they're talking to anymore. It's the public face. So they'll propose more realistic goals.
