Governor rule after PML-N declared ‘war’, says Zardari

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari said on Thursday he had imposed governor’s rule in Punjab after the Sharif brothers declared war on the Presidency following the Supreme Court decision to disqualify them.

Addressing a meeting of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the president said he had been left with no other constitutional alternative.

The CEC endorsed the proclamation of governor’s rule and adopted a unanimous resolution of support for Zardari, sources privy to the meeting told Daily Times. They said most top leaders of the PPP wanted to negotiate a power-sharing deal with the PML-Q, but some stressed taking the PML-N along to avoid political instability.

President Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani chaired the meeting. The committee empowered the PPP leadership to name a new leader of the House in Punjab and urged that the new chief minister of the country’s largest province should be from the PPP. The sources said that it also authorised Zardari and Gilani to establish contacts with the PML-Q for power sharing in Punjab and Centre.

Challenges: Earlier, addressing the office-bearers of the Punjab chapter of the People’s Lawyers Forum (PLF), President Zardari said the PPP did not believe in confrontation and was pursuing a policy of reconciliation, but knows how to tackle political challenges.

“The PPP is a political force that does not believe in confrontation and had adopted the policy of reconciliation for the sake of democracy and political stability of the country. We will pursue this policy but we also know how to meet political challenges that come our way,” he said.

The provision of justice to the common man was the top priority of the government, Zardari said, adding he knew the problems faced by the citizens

Law Minister Farooq Naik also addressed the delegation, which was headed by Attorney General of Pakistan Latif Khosa and included PLF Punjab President Khurram Latif, Senior Vice President Iftikhar Shahid, General Secretary Khawar Khatana, and lawyers Shafqat Abbasi, Habibullah Shakir, Syed Nayyer Hussain Bukhari, Zummurd Khan and Amir Fida Paracha.

Fazl: Also on Thursday, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Fazlur Rehman called on President Zardari to discuss the political and law and order situation in the country after the Supreme Court’s decision to disqualify the Sharif brothers, a statement by the Presidency said.

Top slot: Vital decisions were likely in another meeting that had not ended by late Thursday, they told Daily Times. Qasim Zia, Tanvir Ashraf Kaira and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi are in the run for Punjab’s top slot, the sources said. Zardari has called another meeting today (Friday) of the party’s MNAs and MPAs from Punjab to take them into confidence over the new political developments.