International

Now, all eyes on the presidential battle

ISLAMABAD: With the Pakistan Muslim League cutting loose from the Pakistan People’s Party-led ruling coalition and putting up its own candidate for the presidential elections against PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari, the battles lines between the two parties are well and truly drawn.

Having seized the moral high ground over the PPP on the judges issue, the PML(N) has decided to highlight the issue further by nominating as its candidate a justice well-respected in Pakistan for his integrity.

Saeed-uz-zaman Siddiqui was the Supreme Court Chief Justice when Pervez Musharraf, the Army chief, seized power from Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless military coup.

Three months later, in January 2000, when he asked the judges of the Supreme Court to take a fresh oath under his “provisional constitutional order”, Mr. Siddiqui and five other judges refused and had to quit.

But there are fears that Mr. Siddiqui could go the way of Justice (retd) Wajihuddin, another of the six rebel judges of 2000.

Nominated by the legal community to fight General Musharraf in the controversial October 2007 election, Mr. Wajihuddin managed only eight votes as the opposition had resigned en masse from the Assemblies, and the PPP abstained.

Mr. Siddiqui is bound to do much better because of the PML(N)’s backing but the question is if he can defeat Mr. Zardari.

Pakistan’s Election Commission will accept nomination papers of candidates for the September 6 election on Tuesday, and will scrutinise them on Thursday. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is August 30.

Even without the PML(N)’s backing, PPP leaders are confident that the party has enough support from its other allies for the 51 per cent votes required from the electoral college for Mr. Zardari to win.

The four provincial Assemblies, the National Assembly and the Senate make up the electoral college for the presidential election.

Out of a total of 702 votes, Mr. Zardari will need at least 352 votes to be declared the winner.

PPP leaders believe the party can muster this number with the support of other ruling coalition members at the centre and allies in the provinces. Party managers have also plunged into efforts to shore up support for Mr. Zardari among fence-sitters.

Chief among them is the Pakistan Mulsim League (Q), which has 56 members in the National Assembly. According to some reports, the party may field secretary-general Mushahid Hussain as its candidate, but serious efforts are said to be under way for a patch-up with PML(N), its parent party.

The Awami National Party, which leads the ruling coalition in the NWFP has already assured its support to Mr. Zardari’s candidature. The provincial Assembly passed a resolution formally backing Mr. Zardari for the presidency on Monday.

The resolution was moved by the PPP, the second biggest party in the Assembly, and seconded by the ANP, the single largest party.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement, part of the ruling coalition in the Sindh Assembly is also expected to support Mr. Zardari’s candidature. Its London-based leader Altaf Hussain was the first to propose the PPP leader’s name for the presidency, even before the PPP.

A resolution in the PPP-led Sindh Assembly on Saturday backing Mr. Zardari’s bid was seconded by the MQM.

The Jamiat-e-Ulema Islami, which is part of the ruling coalition at the Centre but sits in the opposition in the NWFP, displayed some reluctance on Monday to support Mr. Zardari. Its leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who until Sunday seemed to be backing the PPP leader, said he had to consider giving support to a party that was continuing with military operations in the tribal areas.

On Monday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik announced a ban on the Tehreek-i-Taliban, an umbrella group of militant organisations, citing their self-confessed involvement in suicide blasts that shook Pakistan all of last week.

He announced that its bank accounts and assets would be frozen, but analysts believed this may have little impact as the Taliban, unlike registered groups or political parties, is not known to identifiable bank accounts or properties.

It is also unclear if the decision to ban it means finally ending all efforts to negotiate a peace agreement with the group.

The ban came after a rocket attack, also claimed by the Taliban, on the house of a National Assembly member of the ANP in Swat.

The parliamentarian’s brother and two nephews were among 10 people killed in the attack.

Senior leaders of the PPP are wooing smaller parties such as a faction of the Pakistan Muslim League, led by the maverick Pir Pagara of Sindh.

The party has five seats in the National Assembly and also a presence in the Sindh Assembly. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met the Pir in Karchi on Sunday.

The Sherpao-faction led by the PPP, which has only seat in the National Assembly but a larger presence in the NWFP is also being wooed by the PPP.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu