December 12, 2002	Thursday	Shawwal 7, 1423

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KARACHI, Dec 11: Following serious resentment within the ruling Grand National Alliance over naming of its nominee for the chief minister’s slot in Sindh, the ruling party decided to put up Ali Mohammad Maher for the job.

This was announced in a late-night briefing at the State Guest House by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Shaikh Rashid Ahmed on Wednesday.

According to the new agreed formula, Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah of the PML-F would contest for the speaker’s post while the deputy speaker’s slot has been kept for the National Alliance nominee.

In the scheme of things, 12 portfolios are likely to be given to the MQM, which withdrew its claim on the top job, whereas 11 other portfolios are to be divided among other components of the ruling constellation, sources said.

Ali Mohammad Maher vowed to serve all across the board and without discrimination. When a reporter asked about the disputed nature of his degree, he said the court had granted a stay in the matter.

Despite the announcement, Sindh appeared to be still mired in political crisis on the eve of the provincial assembly’s inaugural session, as the National Alliance expressed its reservations about the new nominee and Chaudhry Shujaat’s efforts to drum up support for a new consensus nominee met with serious snags.

The late-night outcome was not without the indulgence of Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali, and some senior government officials who had flown in from Islamabad for the purpose.

Throughout the day, Chaudhry Shujaat and his team, covertly supported by Gen Pervez Musharraf’s former Principal Secretary, Tariq Aziz, Gen Ehtesham Zameer and Secretary to Governor Mohammadmian Soomro, Brig Akhtar Zamin, remained busy soliciting agreement on a consensus candidate from a list of six aspirants from within the ruling GNA, and its other allies.

The exercise was undertaken after Chaudhry Shujaat had convinced the MQM to give up its claim on the coveted post.

The two-pronged strategy also homed in on some weaklings of the People’s Party Parliamentarians, and some PML-Q sources claimed that PPP’s Manzoor Panwhar had met the ruling party’s troubleshooters at the State Guest House and assured his support to the ruling party.

Several rounds of meetings were held by Chaudhry Shujaat, involving the MQM and components of the GNA to narrow down differences on a single consensus candidate. But it appeared that too many cooks had spoiled the ruling party’s broth and had led to serious complications for the GNA, which remained unresolved till late in the night.

Chaudhry Shujaat conceded that there was a deadlock as some “friends were not happy.” But he was confident that he would be able to resolve it during the night. The sources did not rule out the possibility of some arm-twisting tactics being employed to get the desired result.

Earlier in the day, names of Ali Mohammad Maher and Pappoo Shah were in circulation and both of them were also seen in the company of Mr Tariq Aziz and his other colleagues in and outside the State Guest House.

It was also interesting to observe that Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali, who has maintained that he is not interfering with the government formation in Sindh, met the aspirants along with Chaudhry Shujaat, Information Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmed, Minister for Power, Aftab Sherpao and other official troubleshooters at the guest house, but apparently the deadlock could not be broken owing to the rigidity shown by some major actors in the GNA.

According to the sources, the situation aggravated when Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi insisted that if the GNA had decided to ditch its earlier consensus nominee, Dr Arbab Rahim, his son, Arif Jatoi, should be given the top slot.

In this connection, Jatoi had even contacted MQM’s leader Altaf Hussain in London on Tuesday and asked for MQM’s support for his son, the sources said.

The MQM coordination committee, which deliberated this issue, held that as NPP chief had not supported MQM’s candidate, how could he expect the MQM to support his son.

The other consideration for the MQM in not agreeing to Arif Jatoi’s candidature was his lack of experience and the apprehension that it would eventually allow Jatois an upper hand in the rural Sindh where the MQM also have stakes, said the sources.

As a result of the deadlock, Jatoi had also reportedly contacted Pir Pagara for support, but to no avail.

Later in the evening, Farooq Leghari added to the problem of the ruling party when he pushed for Nadir Akmal Laghari, MPA, for the post.

According to the sources, the National Alliance held its separate meeting in which it decided that after rejection of its three nominees — Dr Arbab Rahim, Arif Jatoi and Akmal Laghari — it has decided not to accept any other name. It also reportedly decided to vote for other candidates.

The sources said that a late-night meeting was in progress at Nafees Siddiqui’s residence in which People’s Party Parliamentarians’ Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Nisar Khuhro and others were in attendance.

The NA side was represented by Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Irfanullah Marwat and others. They were discussing the modalities in view of the nomination of Ali Mohammad Maher for the CM’s slot.

Because of these developments, Chaudhry Shujat, who was to brief newsmen at 5.30pm on the outcome of his efforts, and announce names of candidates for the speaker, deputy speaker and chief minister, called off the briefing session, and kept reporters waiting.

This led to some altercation between the newsmen and the federal information minister.