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Jamali praised Musharraf for his economic and foreign policies and for restoring democracy in the country
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By
Asif Farooqi, IOL Pakistan correspondent
ISLAMABAD,
November 21 (IslamOnline) - The new parliament of Pakistan on
Thursday, November 21, elected Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali of Pakistan
Muslim League (Q), a party loyal to military President General Pervez
Musharraf as Prime Minister of the country.
A
majority of the 330 members of the National Assembly voted to elect
Jamali as leader of the House. He secured 172 votes against 86 of his
closer rival Maulana Fazl Ur Rehman of the religious MMAP. Makhdoom
Shah Mehmood Qureshi of PPPP got 70 votes.
Jamali
managed to get the required number of votes with the help of 10 PPPP
MNA’s who voted in his favor against their party policy. Without the
support of the PPPP members who call themselves as “forward block”
in the party, the Prime Minister-elect would have fallen short of the
required 165 votes by at least three votes.
Musharraf
amended the relevant Parliamentary laws days before holding of the NA
session to help the defecting PPPP MNA’s to vote for his loyalist
candidate for the Prime Minister. Under the old Parliamentary laws,
the MNA’s could have not voted against the will of their party and
especially when it had fielded its own candidate in the run.
Jamali
is expected to take oath of the Pakistan’s 20th Prime
Minister in the next couple of days to complete restoration of the
parliamentary form of government in the country after a gap of three
years. Musharraf is supposed to fix a date for the oath taking
ceremony to be held at the Presidetial Palace.
Hailing
from the most backward province of the country, Balochistan,
Zafarullah Jamali is the first ever Prime Minister from that province.
He
succeeds Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in the office who was sent into exile
by the incumbent Musharraf following a military coup in October 1999
to overthrow the elected government.
Musharraf
vowed to restore a “real” democracy in the country within three
years and made some controversial changes in the constitution to make
him constitutional President while retaining the office of the Chief
of Army Staff for five years with more powers than the Prime Minister.
The
constitutional amendments made by Musharraf have drawn severe
criticism from other political parties in the Parliament who have
targeted the powers of the President to dissolve the National Assembly
and the government and formation of the supra-Parliamentary National
Security Council.
However
the elected Prime Minister and his party have supported these
Presidential powers as necessary for keeping a check and balance for
different state institutions.
In
his first speech as the leader of the House, Mir Jamali praised
Musharraf for his economic and foreign policies and for restoring
democracy in the country.
Jamali
said Pakistan’s role as the frontline state in the war against
terrorism earned dignity and honor for the whole nation.
He
highlighted internal security as his top priority.
While
referring to India, the Prime Minister-elect said he looked forward to
have cordial relations with all his neighbors but warned those who
have sinister designs against his country.
Jamali
acknowledged Pakistan’s friendship with China as higher as and
stronger than the Himalayan Mountains.
