Chaudhrys back in business

The ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) on Sunday night sealed the mother of all deals to form a broad-based national government, with the latter clinching the position of senior minister for Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi in prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s cabinet along with four slots of federal ministers and five of state ministers, who will take oath today (Monday) at 7pm.
Sources told Pakistan Today that PML-Q’s legal wizards Khalid Ranjha and SM Zafar, who were also present at the meeting, debated the issue of the post of deputy prime minister. Both parties had learned that National Assembly Opposition Leader Nisar Ali Khan might challenge the post in the Supreme Court, said the sources, and therefore had decided to appoint Elahi senior minister until the post was legally created to avoid embarrassment. The deal was made in a meeting at the Presidency between the two parties, in which PML-Q’s Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Elahi and Senator Wasim Sajjad clinched the power-sharing deal with President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani.
PPP central leaders Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf also attended the meeting. “Jam Muhammad Yousaf, Ghous Bux Mehar, Faisal Saleh Hayat and Ameer Muqam will secure slots of federal ministers while Sheikh Waqas Akram, Sardar Shahjahan Yousaf, Khawaja Sheraz, Akram Masih Gill and Ayaz Ali Sherazi will become ministers of state,” said a source in the PML-Q. The source said that according to the power-sharing deal, the PPP would give three slots of advisers to the prime minister to Raja Basharat, Qasim Shah and Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar.
“The PML-Q will also get five seats of senators in next year’s Senate polls. The PPP government will give two seats of senators to the PML-Q from Balochistan, one each from Sindh, Punjab and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT),” said the source. Another source in the PML-Q said that Senator Sajjad, who was going to retire in March next year, and the party’s Secretary General Mushahid Hussain Sayed would be accommodated in the Senate from ICT and Punjab, respectively. “Both sides also agreed to contest the upcoming general elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir as an alliance,” the source said.
Presidential Spokesman Farhatullah Babar said in a press release issued from the presidency after the meeting that it took place in the context of the ongoing dialogue between the two parties aimed at political realignment and strengthening reconciliation to address various issues confronting the country in an atmosphere of political stability, mutual tolerance and accommodation. “The two parties agreed to work together and cooperate to strengthen democracy, ensure electoral reforms, reforms in FATA, creation of new provinces, especially in Southern Punjab (Seraiki) and Hazara, subject to consultation with the people and approval of stakeholders, including making appropriate amendments to the constitution for this purpose,” he added.
Babar said that the two parties agreed to cooperate in a number of areas of concern to the people, including uplifting the economic, controlling inflation, issues of power shortage, transparency and accountability and strengthening of law and order in the country.
“Following the agreement in principle, the PML-Q agreed to form a coalition government with the PPP in the Centre, headed by the PPP prime minister. The two parties also agreed to cooperate in the next elections which will be held in accordance with the constitution,” he said. The two parties also rejected any change in government except through the mechanism of free, fair and transparent elections as laid down in the constitution, the presidential spokesman added.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Elahi said that he would take oath as a senior minister till the legal obstacles to the post of deputy prime minister were removed. PML-Q leader Raja Basharat said that Elahi would work as senior minister till the government passed legislation for the post of deputy prime minister. He said that the PML-Q was making the alliance with the PPP to resolve issues of terrorism, inflation, unemployment and power shortage, among others. He said both parties had also reached an agreement to pass legislation for the creation of new provinces.
When a reporter asked Shujaat whether he had “returned that pen to Zardari with which the judge had signed Bhutto’s execution orders”, Elahi said that their family possessed no such pen and they had never made such a claim. “It was also decided between the leadership of the two parties that under the seat-adjustment formula for the next general elections, both parties would not field their candidates against each other’s incumbent parliamentarians and the leaders getting affected under this deal would be accommodated in the Senate and in other lucrative government positions,” said the source.
In a related late night development, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif arrived in the twin cities and called on Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, a private TV channel reported. Shahbaz is also expected to meet other senior leaders during his stay in the federal capital, said the report.