NAME: Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain

AGE: Forget it!

NATIONALITY: Pakistani

CLAIM TO FAME: The interim Prime Minister

IF India thinks it has set an example by the smooth changeover of premiers, it better take note of how smooth such a change has just taken place in Pakistan, too. Not only did Jamali resign from his post without being sacked, he even nominated his successor, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, expressing solidarity with him. To top it all, the National Assembly didn’t have to be sacked.

Chaudhryji was all praises for his predecessor’s action: “His name will go down in the history in golden words.” A pliant and dependent PM like Jamali is hard to find, even in a country like ours.

Mr Jamali’s dignified exit augers well for the democracy that President Musharraf has set up to suit his designs. It’s clear that the he wants publicly elected members to fill the seats in the Provincial and National assemblies, while he and his chosen bunch of loyalists run the country. Clearly, the president’s agenda is to remove politicians from all levels of real power. Lest the politician in Chaudhryji tempts him to exercise the powers that a PM can, Generalji has made it clear that it’s only a temporary arrangement. The honourable Chaudhry will keep the PM’s seat warm for a couple of months until he gets a chance to have his “name go down in history in golden words”, by naming his successor, Shaukat Aziz.

Our dear General clearly wants a technocrat and not a politician to take charge of things. Shaukat Aziz, the finance minister who is all geared up to make Pakistan another Asian Tiger, will look after the economy while President Musharraf will be left in peace to run the country as he wants. Or shall we say, as Uncle Sam wants?

As it is rather clear that the General is not ready to take off his uniform at the date he promised, he needs a royal deputy capable of winning over opponents. Chaudhryji is a more suitable candidate. He belongs to a family that has always supported military rulers — Gen Ayub Khan, Gen Ziaul Haq and now Gen Musharraf. His father, Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi, began humbly as a local councillor in the early 1950s and now, thanks to politics, the family is an industrial powerhouse.

Shujaat Hussain entered politics in 1982 after his father was murdered, allegedly by political opponents. Gen Zia chose him as a member of his hand-picked consultative body, the Majlis-i-Shoora, and later made him a federal minister. He has won four elections to Parliament since 1985, and has served as a federal minister under prime ministers Mohammed Khan Junejo and Nawaz Sharif. With Musharraf in power, Shujaat Hussain quickly pledged allegiance to the new leader. Such an eager-to-serve politician is just the right man to do the president’s bidding.