PM moves to allay concerns of new ally

Gilani reassigns cabinet portfolios to help address concerns of new political allies.

ISLAMABAD:

In a bid to save an increasingly fragile coalition, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani performed a deft political juggling act on Sunday, reassigning cabinet portfolios to help address the concerns of his new political allies and adding new members to the parliamentary judicial appointments committee after the opposition raised issue with its current composition.

The prime minister met with PML-Q leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to discuss concerns of the increasingly vocal PML-Q members who have been unhappy with the cabinet portfolios they have been assigned. Gilani agreed to change the portfolio of Riaz Hussain Pirzada from minister for minorities affairs to health minister.

Riaz Pirzada met Chaudhry Shujaat on Saturday after quitting the charge of his ministry and expressed his resentment over the ministry he was given when he took oath. Chaudhry Shujaat assured him that his portfolio will be changed “within a few days”. Meanwhile, the prime minister has changed the name of the minorities affairs ministry to the “Ministry for Interfaith Harmony”. Akram Messiah is the state minister for interfaith harmony and PML-Q sources say they would like the prime minister to promote him to federal minister.

However, just as the prime minister was done soothing over one irked ally, another made his unhappiness known. Amir Muqaam, who had been assigned – and had taken oath – as production minister, threatened to resign within a week unless his portfolio was changed and his other grievances addressed.

A close aide of Muqaam, who is the president of PML-Q Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chapter, said he had expressed reservations over the way the party’s top leadership had allocated portfolios. He said two portfolios had been given to people from a single district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, adding that other parts of the province and tribal areas have been ignored. This, he said, was “not acceptable to (the party’s) provincial chapter”.

“I will leave the ministry if PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain does not meet the demands of party workers in K-P,” said Muqaam.

Shahjahan Yousuf and Qasim Shah, both belonging to Mansehra district, had been given ministries from the province.

On Sunday, Muqaam convened a meeting of the PML-Q’s provincial general council, where members were unusually open and scathing in their criticism, accusing them of appointing their own family members to the cabinet. Muqaam expressed several other reservations and called upon the party’s leaders to hold a central executive committee meeting to address his concerns.

“We will not work with the Awami National Party in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly,” said Muqaam. “Chaudhry Shujaat should respect the loyal leadership in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa instead of some figures, who have been given ministries despite having no vote bank in the province.”

“They ignored the key workers from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and southern Punjab, who deserve equal representation for keeping the party alive in hard times,” a party worker told The Express Tribune.

PML-N moves into the rift

As several members of the PML-Q publicly express their unhappiness with the deal struck with the ruling PPP, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) has stepped into the fray to take advantage of the discord.

Five PML-Q senators, who have already announced their decision to remain within the opposition, have reportedly been approaching the PML-N to seek a potential alliance as a joint opposition in both houses of Parliament.

Sources said that PML-N Nawaz Sharif might announce what they called a “general amnesty” for PML-Q members who opt to quit the Chaudhrys of Gujraat, paving the way for them to join the PML-N in the near future.

Judicial appointments committee

Meanwhile, the government is set to announce two new members to the Par­liamentary Committee on the Appointment of Superior Courts’ Judges after Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Ghous Bux Mehr, the two PML-Q members on the committee, became part of the ruling alliance.

Article 175 (A) of the Constitution mandates equal representation of the treasury and opposition benches, from both houses of Parliament, on the eight-member committee. PML-N Senator Ishaq Dar, wrote a letter to Senate Secretary Raja Amin, pointing out that the opposition needs two new members on the committee.

The power to appoint members to parliamentary committees rests with the prime minister and the chairman of the Senate. The judicial appointments committee meets on Monday (today) to discuss the appointments of four judges to the Balochistan High Court and confirm more than twelve judges to the Lahore High Court.

Sources say that one member will likely be chosen from the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam (JUI-F) and one from another party. However, the appointments may not be finalised until later, since Raja Amin declared the committee is likely to meet its five-member quorum on Monday’s meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2011.