Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim has hailed the decision of Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (Noorani Group) member of Sindh Assembly Abdur Rehman Rajput to support General Pervez Musharraf in the presidential election, scheduled on October 6.
The Chief Minister revealed this while addressing a press conference at the Chief Minister House on Tuesday. He said: "He (Rajput) has decided to leave the opposition and join hands with coalition partners in the Sindh Assembly and serve the interest of his constituents." He said that the total number of votes in favour of General Musharraf were now 103 after the inclusion of Rajput.
He said that all the presidential candidates were not "genuine candidates." Arbab said that former chief justice of the Sindh High Court Wajihuddin Ahmed had created an impression that he had refused to take oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO), whereas the reality was contrary to it. "In fact, Wajihuddin was not given oath by the government. He took retirement prematurely. He was not entitled to draw benefits admissible to retired judges.
Arbab said: "President General Pervez Musharraf exercised his discretionary powers and granted him privileges on Wajiuddin's request." He added that Wajiuddin had repeatedly said that he was the candidate of advocates. "Whereas, advocates have nothing to do with the coming presidential elections. The electoral college for the presidential election is the Senate, National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies," he added.
The Chief Minister said that the opposition had decided to resign when the assemblies were already completing their five-year term. "Throughout these five years, they (opposition) have been protesting on flimsy issues, boycotting sessions and staging walkouts. This political gimmickry is known to all. Nobody is going to be fooled by this en block resignation tactics," he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Rajput said that he was fed up with the politics of agitation. "The politics of resignations and protests should now come to an end." Praising the performance of the government, he said that the government had achieved its set targets of uplift programmes, adding the need of the hour was to continue the status quo for greater national interest.
He added: "I am convinced that this government should be supported in all possible ways and decided to join hands with the members of the treasury, adding he would cast his vote in favour of General Pervez Musharraf in the forthcoming presidential elections.
Maintaining his affiliation with the JUP, Rajput said that he had not switched over to any party, and added: "I am still in JUP." To a question, the Chief Minister said that recent statements of Benazir Bhutto during her visit to the US were enough to expose her intentions before her own party. "I do not want to comment on her statements. Her statements were enough for her disasters. She doesn't need enemies to do this job."
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