QUETTA: Begum Safia Qurban Ali, President of the Quetta Divisional (Khawateen) Muslim Leag­ue, has made an appeal to Mohtarma Miss Fatima Jinnah, to reconsider her decision of contesting the Presidential election as the joint Opposition’s nominee. In a Press statement issued here yesterday [Sept 21] she has requested Miss Fatima Jinnah to co-operate with President Ayub Khan in the interest of the solidarity of the country.

[In Lahore,] Maulvi Akhtar Ali, MNA, in a Press statement here today described as “most unfortunate” the nomination by Opposition parties of Miss Fatima Jinnah as their Presidential candidate and said it smacked of “defeatism” within their rank and file. “Having failed to find a candidate among themselves fit enough to match the qualities of Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan, they have tried to play with the sentiments and even destinies of the nation,” he remarked. He said that Islam did not approve of a female Head of State and this was further supported by Islamic history.

Raja Ahmad Ali, a former Parliamentary Secretary and General Secretary of the Punjab Muslim League, has welcomed the decision of Mohtarma Miss Fatima Jinnah to run for the Presidency.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2014