27 June 2004	Sunday	08 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

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ISLAMABAD, June 26: Outgoing prime minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali and nominated interim prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain together violated a traffic rule when they drove on the wrong side of the road after attending a Pakistan Muslim League (PML) parliamentary party meeting at the party secretariat here on Saturday.

Mr Jamali, on the last day of his prime ministership, and PML president Chaudhry Shujaat, on the first day after being nominated as an interim prime minister, drove out of the PML secretariat in a black Mercedez limousine taking the wrong side of the double-lane Margalla Road.

"What a country is this," remarked a taxi driver who got stuck in the traffic because of the blockade of one side of the double road by the police.

The PML parliamentary party meeting was called by Mr Jamali to announce his resignation that he said he was tendering to party president.

The entire proceedings of the meeting were conducted in a disorderly manner as a large number of mobile phones were ringing and the hall was echoed with humming sounds of people. People sitting in a jampacked suffocating hall were repeatedly asked by organizers to maintain discipline and listen to party leaders in silence.

Mr Jamali's decision to dissolve his cabinet apparently disappointed his ministers, as now they have to join again in the race to clinch cabinet positions.

PML secretary-general Senator Mushahid Hussain, when pressed by journalists for a comment, simply said the decision was the best decision in the given situation to ensure continuity.

Outgoing Information and Broadcasting Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed seemed relaxed. Asked whether he would continue as information minister in the next cabinet, he said at the most he would be asked to go home, which he would do willingly.

The most tense person in the entire gathering seemed to be outgoing Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan, who had previously been tipped to be the possible new premier. As he entered the premises, a large battery of press photographers and reporters rushed towards him to ask questions, to which he simply replied that the entire situation would be clear in a few moments.

The most sought after personality after the prime minister and Humayun Akhtar was Education Minister Zobaida Jalal, who was greeted on arrival by blazing flash-guns, whirring video-cameras and questions of journalists. Her name was also being speculated in the list of prime ministerial probables.

The party office was rife with all kinds of speculations and rumours with different pockets of reporters, analysts and political observers guessing as to who would be the new prime minister before Mr Jamali broke the suspense by announcing his resignation and naming Mr Shujaat as interim prime minister with Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz as senior minister.