July 05, 2008	Saturday	Rajab 1, 1429

MUZAFFARGARH, July 4: MNA Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan Jatoi has now turned down a Prime Minister Gilani’s offer to become a minister.

Talking to Dawn on Friday, disgruntled Jatoi said that Gilani had offered him a couple of days ago to choose the portfolio of his choice for his induction into the federal cabinet.

“I turned down the offer because yearning for a ministry has never been my priority,” the MNA, who is seemed to have gone into despair in the wake of apparent treatment meted out to him by his party lords for obvious reasons, hastened to add. Jatoi, who remained a staunch PPP supporter despite ruling junta’s all pressure tactics during 2002-2007, said Benazir’s death had orphaned him as well as all diehard PPP workers who had fallen victim to acute despondency.

Jatoi however did not forget thanking the prime minister for offering him a ministerial slot. He said that Gilani had also offered him to visit Malaysia as member of the prime minister’s entourage and that he had accepted the offer. He renewed his determination to abandon active politics and to devote his future for working on human rights and social issues.