ISLAMABAD, 27 August 2004 — The opposition parties yesterday nominated a PML politician serving a life term in jail for defaming the military as a candidate in an election for a new prime minister.
Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, de facto leader of a Pakistan Muslim League faction opposed to President Pervez Musharraf, has no chance of winning today’s vote, but his nomination showed the opposition was closing ranks against the president.
The ruling party have objected to Hashmi’s nomination and asked the National Assembly speaker to reject the nomination on the grounds that a convicted person is not allowed to hold public office under Pakistan’s constitution. The speaker rejected the ruling party’s objection and accepted Hashmi’s candidature.
Shaukat Aziz, the outgoing finance minister and a Musharraf ally, is set to win the vote because of the majority the ruling party enjoys in the National Assembly. Hashmi was jailed for 23 years in April on charges of forgery, defamation and inciting hatred against the army.
His nomination was endorsed by the main opposition Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD).
The ARD opposes Musharraf’s sweeping powers, including the power to dismiss the government and Parliament.
The alliance groups the parties of two former prime ministers, Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party and Nawaz Sharif’s Muslim League.
“I asked my colleagues to field Javed Hashmi as he has been jailed unlawfully,” Amin Fahim, president of the Pakistan Peoples Party, told reporters.
“It is our unanimous decision,” Raja Zafarul Haq, chairman of Sharif’s party, said of the nomination. It was also welcomed by the six-party Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, an alliance of parties that has supported the military but has been angered by Musharraf’s support for the US-led war on terror.
Hashmi, one of Musharraf’s most outspoken critics, was arrested in October after a complaint that he had forged a letter purporting to come from the army criticizing the general. Today’s election for the prime minister will be the third since Pakistan returned to civilian rule after October 2002 elections.
Aziz is expected to be sworn in and to name his Cabinet tomorrow.
