28 June 2004	Monday	09 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

KARACHI, June 27: The ouster of Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali from the Prime Minister's House drew a mixed bag of reactions on Sunday from various political parties and other groups, with most of them condemning the move, and some welcoming it.

Taj Haider of the Pakistan Peoples Party characterised Mr Jamali's resignation as the beginning of the end for the dictatorial dispensation in the country. "Mr Jamali's resignation has made it clear that the bricks and pillars in the edifice of dictatorship are on the slide," he told Dawn.

"In other words, the process of disintegration of the edifice has already begun." One good aspect of Mr Jamali's appointment as premier was that he belonged to one of the smaller provinces. "However, with his resignation, a message has now been sent to these provinces, making it evident that even a polite, obedient and subservient leader belonging to one of the smaller provinces is not acceptable to the establishment."

The PPP's information secretary claimed that the establishment was increasingly becoming highhanded and had even started eliminating the opposition leaders. "The murders of Abdullah Murad and Binyamin Rizvi are cases in point."

This policy of highhandedness and hooliganism required ruffians, not decent people like Mr Jamali, said Mr Haider. "Mr Jamali does not fit in the scheme of things. That's why he was removed from his position."

In Mr Haider's opinion, with Shaukat Aziz's appointment as premier the establishment would find it easy to transfer the country's resources to a selective group of people belonging to the elite.

The PPP (Shaheed Bhutto) expressed its surprise at the simultaneous nomination of two people for the position of prime minister. Talking to a group of lawyers and party workers, party chief Ghinwa Bhutto stated that Mr Jamali's resignation was against the laws of the land.

"The ouster of Mr Jamali shows that an undeclared presidential order is firmly in place in the country," remarked Ms Bhutto. Mr Jamali's resignation have thrown up a number of questions.

"In this regard the most important question is: On whose behest or orders was Mr Jamali removed?" Neither had the masses called for his removal nor had his party moved any resolution against him.

Some important legislators had also met President Pervez Musharraf a few days ago, but none of them had demanded Mr Jamali's removal, said Ms Bhutto.

Turning to the issue of Shaukat Aziz's nomination, she pointed out that not once in his life had Mr Aziz taken part in elections.

The Sindh chapter of the Awami National Party said Mr Jamali's resignation was a consequence of his media trial. "The aim of his removal is to divert the people's attention from the real issues confronting the nation," said the ANP's provincial chief, Shahi Syed.

The solution of the country's problems lay in provincial autonomy, he said.

Chief of the Awami Himayat Tehreek Maulvi S Iqbal Hyder, claimed that Mr Jamali's resignation had become inevitable. Otherwise, the National Assembly would have been dissolved.