Скачать или смотреть RULING PARTY CHOOSES CANDIDATE TO REPLACE OUSTED PM

(21 Jun 2012) STORYLINE
Pakistan's ruling party leader and Prime Minister nominee was hit with an arrest warrant on Thursday, in a sign that political turmoil in the country may continue ahead of a parliament vote for a new premier on Friday.
Makhdoom Shahabuddin, the outgoing textile minister who is considered a Pakistan People's Party loyalist, earlier on Tuesday filed his nomination papers at parliament for his candidacy, ending speculation that the government may have been planning to defy Tuesday's court ruling against ousted Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for contempt of court.
Shahabuddin filed his papers for the premiership shortly after an anti-narcotics court in Rawalpindi issued an arrest warrant against him, citing his alleged role in a scandal involving the import of a drug that can be used to make methamphetamine.
Speaking to reporters after filing his papers, Shahabuddin was asked about the arrest warrant, to which he replied by quoting a line from a Urdu poem about not being afraid of "hostile winds" because they lift you to higher skies, and thanked the PPP and its coalition partners for choosing him.
It's unclear whether the development will derail his nomination.
Legal cases are routinely filed against Pakistani politicians by rivals as a means of weakening them. Often, the cases drag on for years, and the politician's career is unhindered.
In Shahabuddin's case, any arrest warrant may automatically be dropped if he becomes prime minister as he would then gain immunity from prosecution.
Officials said the arrest warrant was issued at the request of Anti-Narcotics Force investigating corruption in the issuance of government licenses for the production of the chemical ephedrine used in the manufacture of narcotics.
Shahabuddin was health minister when the licence was issued.
Also filing their nomination papers on Thursday were Sardar Mehtab Abbasi of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) party, and Maulana Fazlur Rehman, leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam F (JUI-F) opposition party.
Pakistan's parliament will vote for a new prime minister on Friday, choosing from five lawmakers who are running for the job that was left vacant after the Supreme Court fired the current premier earlier in the week.
Officials said National Assembly Speaker Fahmida Mirza has accepted the nomination papers of all five candidates.
On Tuesday, Pakistan' Supreme Court stripped Yousuf Raza Gilani of the premiership and disqualified him as a member of parliament.
Gilani was convicted for failing to write a letter to a Swiss court seeking the revival of cases of corruption against Zardari.
Under the Constitution, such a conviction disqualifies a person from being a parliamentarian.
The dismissal of Gilani has made it more likely that polls will now be held before next year, possibly as early as November.
Elections in Pakistan must be held under a supposedly neutral caretaker government in place three months before polling day, meaning the current government could be dissolved as early as August.
The PPP has a majority in parliament, and together with its coalition partners, should have the numbers to get their choice elected.


Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...