The Pakistan's Peoples Party, set to head Pakistan's new coalition government, is understood to have decided in principle to nominate Asif Ali Zardari for the premiership, a post he will be eligible to occupy only after his election to the National Assembly.
The single largest party is also offering Makhdoom Amin Fahim, till recently the front-runner for office of prime minister, the position of PPP parliamentary leader in the National Assembly and his son the post of adviser to the premier with the status of a federal minister, Pakistan's Daily Times claimed in a report Wednesday.
Zardari, the co-Chairman of PPP, "has assigned a senior party leader to convey this offer to Amin Fahim and return with a response soon," a source at Zardari House was quoted as saying by the paper.
Meanwhile, names such as Fahmida Mirza; Azra Pechooho, Zardari's sister; and Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah are among those suggested for the post of interim prime minister pending Zardari's election, the report said.
"The offer has been extended to Fahim (for the post of Parliamentary leader) after the party's own ranks and its would-be coalition partners expressed reservations over the
nomination of the PPP senior vice chairman (Fahim) as the party's nominee for the office of prime minister," the source at Zardari House said.
Sources said Fahim, a loyalist of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto, was offered the post of parliamentary leader in view of his long association with the party. The offer was
also made to avoid differences and faction formation within the party, the daily reported.
During Tuesday's meeting of PPP's newly-elected lawmakers, most participants said they would accept Zardari's decision on the party's prime ministerial candidate with some of them urging him to take the slot to avoid intra-party splits, a new parliamentarian, who was present at the meeting, said.
"To this, Zardari said that he will make a final decision at the time of the election of the Leader of the House in the NA," the parliamentarian claimed, according to the report.
Meanwhile, Fahim expressed ignorance about any development regarding Zardari's nomination for the prime ministership, but insisted that he had no differences with the
PPP co-chairman.
Separately, PPP Secretary General Jehangir Badr also suggested Zardari's name for the office of prime minister. "It will keep the party united and carry forward the legacy of the
Bhuttos," he was quoted as saying.
