ISLAMABAD, Dec 27: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday said he had not been prepared to become the country’s chief executive and wished Benazir Bhutto were the prime minister in his place.

Sharing his thoughts with Pakistan Television on the late charismatic leader, Prime Minister Gilani said it all depended on fate.

“At the party’s CEC meeting in Karachi (before Benazir’s assassination), we passed a resolution that none of us would be a candidate for the post of prime minister except Benazir Bhutto, and I had moved that resolution,” the prime minister said. Mr Gilani recalled that two days before her death, he had met the PPP leader in Multan when she returned after addressing a public meeting in Muzaffargarh.

He said they had gone to the Multan airport two hours before her flight was to leave for Rawalpindi and they discussed a number of issues, including elections and the domestic political situation.

“There were a lot of people at the airport -– journalists and common people -– who wanted to meet her but she communicated with me by writing on small pieces of paper, posing she had a sore throat.

“This had continued for nearly an hour and at the end I asked her if I should destroy these papers, but she kept them in her bag and said she wanted them.”—APP