Interim government under consideration

The capital is abuzz with reports that the government of General Pervez Musharraf has begun to prepare a list of top politicians from all the four provinces who may be included in the caretaker setup, likely to be installed soon.

But government officials have chosen to describe these reports as untrue although they say that if such a planning has really been made it must be at the very highest level, to which they have no access.

According to these reports, the corps commanders will be gathering for a grand conference by the end of the month to give a final shape to the future interim setup that will consist of representatives of the people.

Military sources said, however, that the corps commanders conference had remained in session for two consecutive days and was concluded only on Saturday. Normally, they said, such conferences are not called in a short span of time.

A look at the names being mentioned to be the likely entrants in the new setup shows that they will be a mix of all political parties, whether active or not. For instance, one name is that of former Sindh chief minister and former caretaker prime minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, who heads his own National People's Party (NPP).

Thus, if constituted, the interim government would be more like a national government apparently in fulfilment of a demand initially by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and recently by the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD).

General elections

Both have called for an interim government of national consensus to be installed to hold fair, free and transparent general elections.

Other names that are making rounds in the capital as having been tipped sure entrants in the interim setup are Amin Fahim (PPP), Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Mian Azhar (Pakistan Muslim League (PML), Mairaj Mohammad Khan (Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI), Ajmal Khattak, National Awami Party (NAP), and Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali a former member of the Junejo Muslim League.

The formula under discussion is to name one of these politicians as caretaker prime minister of the country.

One senior minister will be taken from the each provinces – the NWFP, Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. However, the possibility that the caretaker prime minister could still be a less known personality is not being ruled out.