Coalition with PPP: PML-Q signs on the dotted line

Seeks post of NA speaker; backs down from its previous demands for the posts of deputy PM and senior federal minister.

LAHORE:

In what is being termed a deal-closing meeting on Saturday, a high-level delegation of the Pakistan Peoples Party called on the leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, which has now agreed to join a proposed national government.

Sources privy to the meeting told The Express Tribune, however, that the PML-Q has now requested the slot of speaker of the National Assembly, as opposed to its previous demand for the portfolios of deputy prime minister and senior minister.

Former law minister Babar Awan led the PPP team comprising Azizur Rehman Chan and Malik Mushtaq Awan while the PML-Q side comprised the party chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.

The sources said that Babar Awan, who negotiated with the PML-Q leaders “with the full mandate conferred by the president,” discussed the modalities and other details of the agreement.

During the Saturday meeting, the sources added, the PML-Q leaders said that, although they had not made it a condition for joining the national government, the federal government should at least consider giving them the post of the speaker of the National Assembly if their other two demands (prime minister and senior minister) could not be met because of legal complications.

Awan is learnt to have talked about the party’s plan to change its current speaker, Dr Fehmida Mirza and sources quoted him as saying that the PPP was “contemplating elevating Mirza as the new federal foreign minister”.

The post of foreign minister is currently lying vacant and Hina Rabbani Khar is officiating as the state minister for foreign affairs.

Previously, the post was held by PPP veteran leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi for nearly three years.

According to sources, when Awan pointed out that the PML-Q “lacked a suitable person for the post”, Chaudhry Shujaat responded that his cousin, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, was ready to serve as the speaker of the National Assembly.

Although Awan agreed to the proposal, he said that a final decision in this regard would be made by the president.

Other portfolios, the sources said, likely to be offered to the PML-Q are yet to discussed by the two sides, adding that the Chaudhrys of Gujrat “are worried about the demands” made by their key party members. However, they said, the PML-Q had decided to offer ministries to outspoken members.

It is learnt that both sides had unanimously agreed on the names of two PML-Q’s members – Amir Muqam from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Ghous Bux Khan Mahar from Sindh – as probable ministers. Sources told The Express Tribune that Muqam was likely to get the portfolio of the ministry of water and power. Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat’s name, was also being considered for a ministerial slot.

The sources said that PML-Q would get as many as eight ministries, four federal and four state.

Discussions about the formation of a national government were likely to materialise by the first week of May, the sources said.

According to sources, Chaudhry Shujaat had informed the PPP that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) would also join the national government.

Shujaat also said that the PML-Q could sway JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to join the national government, if the PPP was unable to persuade him to participate.

However, an official handout issued after the meeting said that Awan conveyed President Zardaris’ wishes to the Chaudhry’s on the marriage of Chaudhry Shujaat’s son.







Published in The Express Tribune, April 24^th, 2011.