Date:23/02/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/23/stories/2008022357660100.htm

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Fahim front-runner for Prime Minister’s post

Nirupama Subramanian

It is up to PPP to make its choice, says PML(N)

Makhdoom Amin Fahim

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party vice-chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim is emerging the front-runner for prime ministership of Pakistan as the party prepares to form a government with assistance from the Nawaz Sharif-led Pakistan Muslim League (N).

The PML(N), which has yet to come out clearly on whether it will participate in the government or give outside support, has said it is up to the PPP to choose its prime ministerial candidate.

The two parties, arch-rivals less than a decade ago, reached a historic agreement on Thursday to cooperate in government formation at the Centre and in the four provinces, after winning the largest number of seats in the February 18 election.

For its support in the formation of the federal government, the PML(N) can expect the PPP to help it set up the Punjab provincial government. The PML(N) is the single largest party in the province.

An expected announcement of a name for Prime Minister after the PPP parliamentary party meeting on Friday did not come, but the party leadership is said to have decided on Mr. Fahim, a veteran from Sindh.

Party insiders are mentioning other names too. Among them are Shah Mehmood Qureishi and Yusuf Raza Geelani, both from southern Punjab, but it appears more likely that the party will choose a Sindhi. Of the PPP’s newly elected parliamentarians, the majority are from Sindh.

Mr. Zardari addressed the newly-elected members. The meeting reiterated the demand for a U.N.-backed international inquiry into the killing of Benazir Bhutto.

That the PPP and the PML(N) continue to have different priorities was reflected in Mr. Sharif’s statements to a public gathering at Manshera in the North-West Frontier Province.

At the gathering, he urged President Pervez Musharraf to heed the verdict of the people and make a dignified exit before his safe passage was blocked. The PML(N) and the PPP have agreed “in principle” on the restoration of the superior judiciary.