Sharif Wins Trust Vote In Pak Assembly

Pakistans newly-elected National Assembly (lower house) on Monday gave a resounding vote of confidence to Nawaz Sharif, whose Pakistan Muslim League (PML) won this months general election.

The 217-seat assembly cast 177 votes for Sharif, who was to take his oath as Prime Minister later on Monday. Former defence minister Aftab Shaaban Mirani of Benazir Bhuttos Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) secured only 16 votes. The confidence vote, a constitutional preliminary to the swearing-in of a new prime minister, is taken without debate.

This is a silent revolution that people have given us, Sharif told the assembly after the vote. Such revolutions do not (usually) occur without blood-letting, but it has happened.

 

We are aware of the responsibility on our shoulders...our every moment will be spent on rebuilding this nation, he said.

Sharif said his government would tackle economic problems, unemployment, educational improvement, sectarianism and crime. We will not rest until we solve these problems, he added, pledging to keep up the fight on corruption.

Sharif, foreswearing the politics of revenge, promised not to treat Bhuttos PPP as he said his own party had been treated under her three-year government.

Bhutto, in a bitterly worded response, attacked the manner in which the February 3 election had been conducted, but said she would work to strengthen Pakistans parliamentary system.

We think the parliamentary system is under threat...because there are forces that want a presidential system, she said.

She offered to cooperate with Sharif in keeping parliament working smoothly. This circus must end, she said, referring to frequent changes of government in recent years.

Sharif will take over from caretaker Prime Minister Meraj Khalid, who governed for 90 days after President Farooq Leghari dissolved the National Assembly and sacked Bhuttos government on November, alleging corruption and misrule.

The PML routed the PPP in national and provincial elections held on February 3 with a voter turnout of about 37 percent.

Sharif, who was prime minister from 1990 to 1993, commands one of the biggest parliamentary majorities of any government in Pakistans recent history.

The 47-year-old industrialist from the Punjab provincial capital of Lahore has said his first priority will be to reinvigorate Pakistans ailing economy.

The business community has shown high expectations for a Sharif-led government, whose advent has prompted a dramatic, sentiment-driven rally on the Karachi stock exchange.

The Karachi 100-share index surged 4.39 percent on Sunday, bursting through the 1,700-point barrier. It has gained more than 28 percent since January 1 on hopes linked to Sharif.

Sharifs declared intention to focus on the economy suggests that he will be in no immediate hurry to use his two-thirds majority in parliament to scrap the presidents controversial constitutional powers to dismiss elected governments.

Legharis sacking of Bhutto was the fourth time in six years that a president has wielded these powers, a legacy of Pakistans former military ruler General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.

Sharif is also likely to defer any move to get rid of a Council for Defence and National Security set up by Leghari last month to give the military its first formal advisory role in government affairs since martial law was lifted in 1988.

Nawaz Sharif does not wish to be trapped at this stage by sailing into murky waters at the prompting of his adversaries, said the English-language daily The News said on Monday.

However, opportunities like the one he has today are not easy to come by. If he delays and fails to address some of the most pressing constitutional issues he might rue the day.