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Differences in PPP over PM's post
Differences emerge over prime ministerial candidate for the upcoming election, with some opposing a move to project her widower Asif Ali Zardari for the post.
Differences have apparently emerged in the top leadership of slain former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto's party over its prime ministerial candidate for the upcoming election, with some opposing a move to project her widower Asif Ali Zardari for the post.
Top Pakistan People's Party leader Babar Awan, who was a close aide of Bhutto, suggested at a seminar in Karachi on Friday that Zardari could be the candidate for the post of prime minister.
But PPP vice chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim told a news conference in Mirpur Khas on Saturday that the party's central executive committee, the most important decision-making body, would decide on the prime ministerial candidate.
Fahim also said Awan's statement about Zardari's candidature had "no importance". He stressed that only the central executive committee could make a decision in this regard.
During an interview with Dawn News channel this week, Fahim had said that Bhutto wanted him to be the PPP's prime ministerial candidate for the polls. He also said he hoped her wish would be respected by the PPP.
Bhutto, who was assassinated in a suicide attack after an election rally in Rawalpindi on December 27, was ineligible for a third prime ministerial term under a constitutional amendment made by President Pervez Musharraf's regime.
Meanwhile, a statement issued by a PPP spokesperson said that said the "matter of candidature for the office of prime minister is premature at this stage".
