ISLAMABAD, 22 November 2002 — Pakistan’s Parliament yesterday elected Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) party as the prime minister.
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has promised to hand over the running of the country to the prime minister, but he will remain as president for a further five years with considerable influence and the power to dismiss Parliament.
Jamali, 58, a portly tribal elder from southwest Balochistan province defeated a Taleban-sympathetic leader from the religious-right parties and a candidate of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party..
State-run Pakistan Television (PTV) said Jamali would be sworn in on Saturday.
Analysts and diplomats say Jamali is an establishment figure who is expected to cooperate with the military.
Accepting the vote, Jamali endorsed Musharraf’s legacy in the three years since the coup, stressing the general’s achievements in foreign and economic policy and implicitly promising more of the same.
“On the external front, because of the policy of the last three years, Pakistan has become a front-line state, Pakistan has respect and dignity,” Jamali said.
Pakistan became a key ally in the US-led war on terror after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, and Musharraf’s government has also won praise from Western donors for stabilizing the economy.
“The economy has picked up, we are about to be out of the woods,” Jamali said in a confident acceptance speech. “Thanks to Musharraf who gave a road map and fulfilled his promise... the transfer of power is going on.”
Jamali won a narrow majority in the ballot with 172 of the 328 votes cast, relying on the help of smaller parties and some defectors from his larger rivals.
To the likely relief of investors, an alliance of religious groups, which rode a wave of anti-American sentiment in October’s general election, was set for a spell in the opposition after declining to join the Muslim League in a coalition.
Its candidate Fazlur Rehman won 86 votes yesterday.
Nevertheless the Islamists, who want US forces out of Pakistan, control two provincial assemblies, and are likely to be a powerful force in the Senate or upper house of Parliament.
“If the army does not listen, then the gap between it and civil society will widen,” Rehman warned Parliament after losing the vote. “Foreign policy should be reshaped on the basis of our sovereignty. We won’t accept any interference and compromise on our sovereignty.” Diplomats say the Islamists might not be able to block Pakistan’s cooperation in the war on terror, but might force a more conservative agenda on social issues like women’s rights.
