Jamali confident about keeping office

By Shahzad Raza

ISLAMABAD: Again denying the relatively strong rumours about his removal from office, Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali on Tuesday said that there was no threat to the democratic system and the assemblies would complete their tenure.

While chairing the parliamentary party meeting of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and allied parties, the prime minister also ruled out the possibility of an in-house change. Sources said the prime minister asked all treasury members of the National Assembly (NA) to be disciplined so that there was harmony on the treasury benches. A PML leader commented that the reason Mr Jamali summoned the parliamentary party meeting was to silence rumours-mongers and those who want to dethrone him.

The meeting’s agenda included creating coordination among the treasury benches members and ensure the presence of members during the second reading of the budget debate.

Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan, who is rumoured to be Mr Jamali’s possible replacement, also attended the meeting and sat next to the prime minister. Later, while talking to newsmen, the prime minister said that he did not accept the three-month ultimatum of the MQM as a threat to his government. He said the MQM was the PML’s coalition partner and both parties were working together in the government. PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain asked the members to show their strength and support for the prime minister inside the house in order to put an end to the rumours. This is possibly why the desk-thumping treasury members gave him a warm welcome when Mr Jamali entered the House after staying in his parliament chamber for some time.

The parliamentary party meeting decided that all the members of the ruling coalition would remain in the house during the second reading of the Finance Bill. The coalition leaders held that in order to reject the cut-motions from the Opposition, the treasury members must maintain a majority attendance in the house. After some members complained, the prime minister stated that the recently-announced agriculture package would be implemented.

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