NWFP gets poor representation in cabinet

The Assembly of the North-West Frontier Province convenes today even as feelings ran high over the Frontier's one-man representation in the federal cabinet put together by Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali.

The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), which forms part of the NWFP, fared even worse as none of the tribal parliamentarians was made a minister.

Only Aftab Sherpao, who twice served as chief minister of the NWFP, managed to win a berth in the 25-member cabinet. He is head of his own faction of the PPP, which won two National Assembly seats in the October 10 general elections.

By comparison, Balochistan got two positions in the federal cabinet through PML-QA's Zubaida Jalal and National Alliance's Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind.

Sardar Fateh Ali Umrani, one of the four advisers to the prime minister, also belongs to Balochistan. The prime minister and three of his cabinet members are from Balochistan. All four are Balochs while the Pashtuns, the second biggest ethnic group in the province, failed to find a place in the Jamali cabinet.

While the smallest and most under-developed province, ie Balochistan, has suddenly found itself over- represented in the federal government, the NWFP despite being the second smallest unit of the federation remained a fringe player in the corridors of power. Sherpao alone would be representing the province in the centre, at least for the time-being.

There has never been a prime minister from the NWFP and there is little hope that it would get one in the foreseeable future.

By contrast, Balochistan got what it wanted by sending its first nominee to the prime minister's house. The province is now poised to win its biggest representation todate in the federal government.

An attempt was made earlier to pacify the Frontier by awarding the office of the deputy speaker of the National Assembly to PML-QA's Sardar Mohammed Yaqub.

The low-profile Yaqub was elected MNA from NA-18 Abbottabad, the constituency from where Nawaz Sharif was twice elected to the National Assembly but which he had ignored while in power.

Our Lahore Correspondent adds: The first session of the newly-elected Punjab Assembly is to be convened today for the oath taking of the members and election of the speaker and deputy speaker.

The session has been summoned by President Pervez Musharraf during which the speaker and the deputy speaker will also take the oath of office.

The governor has nominated speaker of the dismissed 1997-99 assembly and potential candidate for the Punjab chief ministership Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi to preside over the inaugural session of the assembly. He will first take the oath and later administer the oath to the members.

The elections of the speaker and the deputy speaker will be held tomorrow through secret ballot.
The speaker will be elected first and he will relieve the presiding officer after taking the oath of his office. Later, he will supervise election of the deputy speaker and prorogue the session.

Unlike the centre, the situation regarding government-making in the Punjab is fairly clear and Pervaiz Illahi seems set to lead a PML-QA government.

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) has got only one more seat than that won by religious parties in the 1997 elections in Punjab, and thus is unlikely to present major problems for the ruling party.