ISLAMABAD/KARACHI, 26 August 2004 — Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain resigned and the Cabinet was dissolved yesterday to allow Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz to take over as head of the government on Saturday.
“I am returning the trust reposed in me by the nation and the National Assembly today,” Shujaat told the lower house of Parliament.
“Mr. Shaukat Aziz will be elected as prime minister within a few days.” Shujaat announced his resignation yesterday after two months in the job.
Shujaat sent his resignation to President Pervez Musharraf who accepted it, but asked him to continue as prime minister until his successor assumes the office, a senior government official said.
The National Assembly would elect the new prime minister on Friday and he would be sworn in and face a vote of confidence, which is also a formality, on Saturday, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, information minister in the outgoing Cabinet, told Reuters.
A senior government official, who declined to be identified, said some changes were expected in the Cabinet to be announced by Aziz on Saturday and it was likely to be larger than the outgoing one. He gave no details.
Shujaat took office on June 30, replacing Zafarullah Khan Jamali. Shujaat was keeping the seat warm for Aziz, who needed to win a National Assembly seat before taking up the post.
Aziz, a former Citibank executive credited with turning around Pakistan’s economic fortunes, won two seats in by-elections last week, one of which he will retain.
He won both resoundingly and met the constitutional requirement for becoming prime minister.
Underlining the dangers facing Pakistani leaders, Aziz narrowly survived a suicide bombing on July 30 while campaigning for the seat he won in Attock in the central province of Punjab. He was unharmed, but the blast killed his driver and eight others, including the bomber.
Officials have linked the attack to Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network, which is bent on deposing Musharraf for his support for the US-led war on terror.
Aziz has won plaudits from colleagues and financial markets for pushing through reforms that brought Pakistan back from the verge of bankruptcy after Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999.
Aziz’s focus is expected to remain on the economy, while Musharraf, who wields ultimate power as president, continues to lead the fight against militancy and directs foreign policy.
The opposition Alliance for Restoration of Democracy intends to challenge Aziz when Parliament votes on Friday. But its major components — the Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz of ex-premiers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif — were reportedly divided over a choice of a consensus candidate.
Musharraf brought in Aziz as finance minister after toppling Sharif nearly five years ago. He is credited with saving Pakistan from bankruptcy after international sanctions imposed over its May 1998 nuclear tests.
