ISLAMABAD, 20 August —Pakistan is to see three more federal ministers and one provincial governor join the league of sitting officials who have resigned in order to participate in the October general elections. President Pervez Musharraf has directed that all federal and provincial ministers and governors desirous of running for elections to resign from their offices before filing nomination papers.
An official said that Minister of Education Zobaida Jalal and Minister of Kashmir Affairs Abbas Sarfraz, along with Sindh Gov. Muhammad Mian Soomro, have conveyed to the president that they wanted to contest the elections. Therefore they would step down as directed.
Minister of Finance Shaukat Aziz is also likely to contest a National Assembly seat from Islamabad on the Pakistan Muslim League, Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) ticket. He has not yet communicated his decision to the president, but the PML-Q sources confirmed that Shaukat would contest on the party’s ticket from the federal capital.
Abbas Sarfraz will contest from Mardan as an independent candidate or as a PML-Q nominee. Zobaida wants to be in the electoral arena as an independent candidate. Soomro will contest from his native Jacobabad. His electoral affiliation is not yet known, but he will face formidable candidates like former National Assembly Speaker Ilahi Bux Soomro, who also happens to be his uncle.
