20 June 2004	Sunday	01 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

ISLAMABAD June 19: Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan on Saturday denied there was any danger to democratic system or any chance of snap elections in the country. Talking to a group of newsmen in his chamber in the parliament house , he refused to be drawn into rumours of change of government and said that in a parliamentary system such speculations did surface off and on and he saw nothing strange in these reports.

Referring to his meetings with coalition lawmakers inside the house during the budget session, Mr Khan said he was only doing his normal routine.

When his attention was drawn towards reports that his name as an alternative to Prime Minister Jamali was being mentioned in the press repeatedly but it had been rejected by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, he said: "I don't know anything of that sort. I have very deep and very old relations with Chaudhrys going back to the days of our late fathers."

He said by the grace of Allah there was no tussle between institutions this time. Rebutting the criticism with regard to President Gen Musharraf's meetings with lawmakers in the president's chamber, the commerce minister said the president was Head of the State and he had committed no wrong by meeting the lawmakers.