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Race for Pakistan PM: PPP drops Shahabuddin, names Ashraf
Thursday June 21, 2012 08:35:09 PM,
IANS
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Islamabad: Tipped
earlier as a covering candidate, Raja Pervez Ashraf of the
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was Thursday named the party's main
candidate for the office of prime minister following the issue of
a non-bailable arrest warrant against the previous contender
Makhdoom Shahabuddin.
Another PPP leader, Qamar Zaman Kaira, has also filed nomination
papers for the prime ministerial election slated for Friday.
Two opposition candidates, Maulana Fazlur Rehman from the Jamiat
Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Sardar Mehtab Abbasi from the
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), also filed nomination papers
Thursday.
Shahabuddin's name was dropped after an anti-narcotics court
Thursday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against him as well
as disqualified prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's son Ali Musa
in an illegal drugs quota case, Geo News reported.
A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry has directed the Anti Narcotics Force (ANF) to arrest
Shahabuddin.
Shahabuddin, in his earlier capacity as health minister, had
unauthorisedly approved the manufacturing licence for the drug
ephedrine to two pharmaceuticals firms -- Berlex Lab International
and Danas Pharma -- for Rs.7 billion.
The case came to light after the two Multan-based companies failed
to export asthma drugs to Afghanistan, after obtaining export
quotas from the health ministry.
President Asif Ali Zardari had earlier formally named Shahabuddin
as the PPP's candidate for the post of prime minister, state
television PTV reported.
Shahabuddin was textiles minister in the government of Yousuf Raza
Gilani. He earlier held the portfolios of federal minister for
finance and health.
A special session of the National Assembly has been summoned
Friday (June 22) to elect the new prime minister, after Yousuf
Raza Gilani was disqualified by the Supreme Court. Speaker Fehmida
Mirza will chair the proceedings.
The PPP's central leader Khursheed Shah, however, said the ruling
coalition would announce their final decision on the nominee for
prime minister after a meeting Thursday night, Dawn News reported.
The former minister for religious affairs said his party has
submitted nomination papers to the National Assembly Secretariat
for three of its candidates.
On the arrest warrant issued against the earlier preferred
candidate, Makhdoom Shahbuddin, Shah said it was an "effort to
derail the system".
He said it was "unfortunate that some members of parliament are
part of the conspiracy to destabilise the system".
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