30 June 2004	Wednesday	11 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

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ISLAMABAD, June 29: Outgoing prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali lashed out at the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) on Tuesday for not participating in the voting for the as certainment of the leader of the house.

Speaking in the National Assembly after Chaudhry Shujaat's election, he said had the MMA voted for Mr Amin Fahim an impression of opposition's unity could have emerged but instead they had set conditions for voting for the People's Party Parliamentarians' president.

The Pakistan Muslim League-N, he recalled, had voted for Maulana Fazlur Rehman without any preconditions and the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy supported the Maulana in the lower house when the issue of his expulsion from Sindh was raised the other day.

Referring to his own replacement, he said: "Every party takes its own decisions and no-one else had the right to criticize or interfere in other's decisions." He stoutly defended the decision taken by President Gen Pervez Musharraf and did not give even an inkling of sorrow over the loss of his office.

Interestingly, the outgoing premier chose not to facilitate premier-elect Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on his election as opposed to the opposition leader Maulana Fazl and Mr Fahim, who extended their heartiest congratulations to Mr Hussain.

Defending his brief stint in power, Mr Jamali claimed: "We have demonstrated how democracy should be practised during our rule which has been acknowledged by everyone." About the change of government, he said: "This has occurred after consultations and no-one has imposed it from outside."

He added: "I am not the person to linger on if my performance was not found to be satisfactory." He said he had accepted the decision to save the democratic system and he would have sacrificed even his life to save it.