Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Asif Ali Zardari’s prospects for presidency brightened on Sunday with leaders of two prominent parties backing his bid, even as he claimed the “establishment” is with him in his quest to succeed Pervez Musharraf.
Jamiat Ulema-e Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said his party’s 48 members in the parliament — National Assembly and Senate — and provincial assemblies of NWFP and Balochistan would vote for Zardari in the September 6 presidential poll.
Rehman said he took the decision after the government met the four demands of his party — reopening of the “Jamia Fareedia” madrassa, handing over of the Lal Masjid to “ulema” or religious scholars, halting of the military operation in Bajaur tribal agency and promise to free radical cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz soon. Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, a minister in the previous cabinet and the president of his own faction of PPP(S), announced his party’s support to Zardari, as did a lawmaker of the pro-Musharraf PML-Q, Amir Muqam.
Zardari also sought to assert that the “establishment” — a euphemism for army in Pakistan — has not opposed or expressed reservations over his candidature.
Triangular contest
There will be a triangular contest among Zardari, PML-N’s Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui and PML-Q’s Mushahid Hussain Sayed in the presidential election that was necessitated after Musharraf stepped down on August 18.
Former Premier Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N pulled out of the ruling coalition recently, accusing the PPP of reneging on several agreements to restore all the judges sacked by Musharraf during last year’s emergency rule.
Sharif has rebuffed pleas by Zardari to withdraw the PML-N presidential nominee.
The electoral college for the presidential poll comprises the two houses of Parliament and four provincial assemblies, which have 1,170 members in total. The Senate has 100 members, the National Assembly 342, Punjab assembly 371, Sindh Assembly 168, NWFP assembly 124 and Balochistan assembly 65.
An official statement, meanwhile, said the NWFP legislators have unanimously “expressed solidarity and confidence in co-chairman and presidential candidate of the PPP Asif Ali Zardari and said that he would be elected by a thumping majority, because he is....the most suitable candidate.”
