Lawmakers will vote tomorrow for a new prime minister following the resignation of Zafarullah Khan Jamali, an official said yesterday.
Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, head of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party and an unswerving ally of the nation's military president, was almost certain to win the vote and take over in a caretaker role until political maneuvering allows respected Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz to assume the position.
The lower house of Parliament, which is dominated by PML-Q legislators, will take up the vote on Hussain's ascension tomorrow following party meetings, said a high-ranking official in the prime minister's office.
PHOTO: REUTERS
While the vote's outcome is sure, it was likely that opposition legislators would stage some sort of protest.
The opposition has spent much of the past 18 months banging on desks and shouting down speakers in parliament to protest what they see as President General Pervez Musharraf's attempts to whitewash what is essentially still military rule.
Jamali's resignation -- following months of speculation that his relations with Musharraf were strained -- raised questions about the pace of this nation's return to democracy five years after Musharraf's bloodless coup in 1999.
As recently as Friday, Jamali was insisting he would not resign, fueling speculation that he was pushed out by the military leader.
But Musharraf late Saturday described Jamali as a "person of sterling qualities of grace, dignity, sincerity and loyalty," according to state-run media.
The change in prime ministers was unlikely to dramatically alter Pakistan's commitment to either the US-led war on terror or fledgling peace talks with nuclear rival India -- matters that are firmly in Musharraf's hands.
Hussain's days as prime minister might be numbered.
Outgoing Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said Hussain would be a caretaker prime minister and would eventually give way to Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz -- a senator who must gain a seat in the lower house of Parliament before he can be nominated.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese