January 26, 2006	Thursday	Zilhaj 25, 1426

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ISLAMABAD Jan 25: The ruling Pakistan Muslim League is likely to allot party tickets to a majority of sitting senators who will stand down on March 11 as a result of a draw on Jan 2. Fresh elections to elect 50 new senators for six years will be held in the first week of March under the supervision of the Election Commission, informed party sources told Dawn.

As against this general perception, the fresh ticket aspirants in the party feel there should be a drastic shift in the policy to accommodate fresh faces on the basis of their performance.

“If each of the sitting senators has to be accommodated, the charm of the democratic process — the hallmark of bringing about a change on the basis of political workmanship and competence — will be over,” said an aspirant requesting anonymity for himself. Half of the Senate’s members were chosen to retain their seats for six years, including the three years already passed in the ballot held on Jan 2 last when Chief Election Commissioner Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar announced fresh elections for completion of the house in the first week of March.

While the PML has formed a parliamentary board headed by party president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz as its member, the combined opposition has initiated efforts to contest Senate polls from a single platform.

A party leader claimed that the parliamentary board may meet as soon as the prime minister returned home on Jan 25. But at the same time party secretary general Sen Mushahid Hussain Syed, also a board member, is expected to return by the end of January.

The parliamentary board’s meeting is expected by the end of January or in the first week of February, the sources said.

In all, 86 party stalwarts have filed applications with the party secretariat for party tickets and the PML parliamentary board is likely to consider these names and may call all the candidates one by one for an interview.

However, allotment of tickets to the sitting ministers and ministers of state seems to be a foregone conclusion unless the prime minister drops any one of them on the basis of his performance evaluation.

Two of these ministers are Lt-Gen Javed Ashraf Qazi and Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh.

Interestingly, while the former has applied for fresh election the party secretariat has not received the latter’s application.

A party leader who is helping to sort out applications expressed surprise over Dr Sheikh’s missing application and said he may have been assured some other position which does not require parliamentary office.

Similarly, the sources said, there was a possibility that the parliamentary board would consider some fresh faces even for induction in the cabinet through the Senate and drop some of those who failed to make it in the ballot.

A special aide to the prime minister, Muhammad Ali Durrani, already holds a federal minister’s status and may not be considered for a fresh seat.

The largest number of candidates for the two Islamabad seats is 11, prominent among them are the Leader of the house in the Senate Wasim Sajjad, former NA speaker Gohar Ayub Khan, former secretary general foreign affairs Akram Zaki and former party organizing secretary Azim Chaudhry.

Among the 36 candidates from Punjab, Tariq Azeem Khan, Dr Shahzad Waseem (ministers of state), special aide Muhammad Ali Durrani and S.M. Zafar are strong aspirants.

There are 12 applicants from Sindh among them Maqbool Sheikh, Syed Mehmud Hashmi, Tanvir Khalid (a sitting senator) hold party offices and could be potential candidates for the allotment of party tickets.

In the list of candidates from Balochistan, there are Ayaz Mandokhel, Saeed Hashmi (sitting senators), Jan Muhammad Jamali (former provincial chief minister), Syed Fazle Agha (former deputy chairman, Senate) and Akram Wali.

The eight aspirants from NWFP include former party secretary general Salim Saifullah Khan, Fauzia Fakhruz Zaman (a sitting senator), etc.

Last year, Mr Saifullah who was fielded by the party in a by-election in Malakand, trailed at number three in the contest which was won by an MMA candidate.

Earlier, he was replaced by Mushahid Hussain as the party’s secretary general in an unceremonious way and was also not considered to preside over the provincial party organization.