The party of slain Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto nominated a close associate of her widower to be parliament's first female speaker yesterday, but divisions remained over who should be the next prime minister.
Fahmida Mirza, a businesswoman and three-time lawmaker, will become the first woman speaker of the National Assembly, or lower house, if approved as expected in a parliamentary vote tomorrow.
Her husband is a longtime confidant of Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto's widower and now party leader, thought to have a final say over the party's nominations.
Faisal Karim Kundi, who defeated a pro-Taliban incumbent for his parliamentary seat in Pakistan's volatile northwest, was nominated by the party as deputy speaker.
The new parliament convened on Monday for the first time since opponents of US-backed Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf swept to victory in last month's elections. They promise to slash his powers but face challenges themselves, including high inflation and raging Islamic militancy.
"Broken institutions are being handed to us and Musharraf is keeping powers for himself," said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted by Musharraf in a 1999 military coup and sent into exile until last November.
"God willing, we will take those powers from him," Sharif said late on Monday at a dinner with lawmakers from his party.
The nuclear-armed nation of 160 million people has been under military rule for most of its 60-year history, including the past eight after Musharraf seized power following a series of civilian governments that were accused of corruption and incompetence in the 1990s.
With the second largest number of parliament seats, Sharif's followers have pledged to form a coalition government with Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, which won the largest number. It falls to the PPP to name a prime minister, and party spokesman Farhatullah Babar said yesterday an announcement would be made before a parliamentary vote by next week.
Neither Mirza nor Kundi were mentioned as possible candidates for prime minister. But there is speculation that if Mirza, who is from Sindh Province, becomes speaker, the prime minister would likely hail from the largest province of Punjab.
The initial front-runner for the job, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, has expressed frustration that his nomination has not been announced. Shortly after Bhutto's Dec. 27 assassination in a suicide attack, Zardari told reporters that Bhutto had wanted Fahim to be the party's candidate for prime minister.
"What have I done wrong to my party?" he said on Saturday in an interview with Pakistan's Express news channel.
On Monday, Fahim had to pass by banners near parliament imploring him not to "betray" the party by insisting on the premiership -- but still received a rousing welcome from fellow lawmakers in the house.
Fahim said he would only stand aside for Zardari.
"If Zardari wishes to become prime minister, I will propose his name," he said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's top court was due to meet yesterday amid a looming showdown between the country's new parliament and President Musharraf over judges he deposed last year.
The Musharraf-appointed Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, who succeeded sacked top judge Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, was to chair a rare full meeting of all 15 judges of the Supreme Court.
No agenda has been announced for the extraordinary meeting, which comes a day after the parliament dominated by Musharraf opponents was formally inducted following last month's election.
The incoming ruling coalition has pledged to restore about 60 judges including Chaudhry through a parliamentary resolution within the next 30 days.
A court official said there was no fixed agenda for the meeting.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to