& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

PPP names Gilani as Pakistan PM candidate

AFP, Islamabad
Slain former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto's party yesterday named ex-parliamentary speaker Yousuf Raza Gilani as its candidate to be the troubled country's new prime minister.
Benazir loyalist Gilani was chosen more than a month after the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) emerged as the biggest party from general elections and agreed to form a coalition government with former premier Nawaz Sharif.
The 58-year-old Gilani is now a virtual shoo-in to be elected as prime minister when Pakistan's
new parliament meets tomorrow, ahead of a looming showdown with key US ally President Pervez Musharraf.
"I have great pleasure in calling upon Yousuf Raza Gilani in the name ofShaheed (martyr) Benazir Bhutto to accept tlie heavy responsibility to lead the coalition government and the nation," said a statement by Benazir's widower Asif Ali Zardari that was read out to reporters byaparty spokesman.
The statement said tli.it Gilani was the "consensus" candidate of the coalition.
Musharraf, whose political backers lost heavily in the elections after five years in power of tlie nucleararmed nation, is set to swear in the newpremieronTUesday.
Gilani is a stalwart figure in tlie PPP and friend of Zardari who spent five years in jail under Musharraf s regime on corruption charges that were later overturned.
He was speaker during her second term in power from 1993101996 anda minister during her first term from 1988tol990.
Party spokesman Farhatullah Babar would not comment on reports that Gilani would be a stop-gap premier until Zardari, who is not an MR becomes eligible to stand for the post by contesting a by-election in May.
The party struggled to settle on a candidate amid a power vacuum left by the charismatic Benazir's assassination in December, with Gilani emerging only in the last week
The other contenders were extrade minister Ahmed Mukhtar, party president Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Punjab province party chief Shah Mah mood Qureshi.
Sharif said in Lahore that his Pakistan Muslim League-Nparty "will raise no objection on the PPP nominee,” adding: "Musharraf should understand that the days of dictatorship are numbered.”
A nominee of Musharraf s allies meanwhile quit the race for the premiership, but the main party that supports the US-backed president said it would field another candidate so the PPP's nominee would not be uncontested.
The president's political ally, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), said it had decided to withdraw its candidate as a "gesture of goodwill."
"We have decided to extend
unconditional support to the PPP nominee, Farooq Sattar, the candidate of the Karachi-based MQM, told AFP by telephone.
The decision to withdraw was taken after Zardari field talks with MQM leader Altaf Hussain, who lives in exile in London, Sattar said.
Sattar, who met leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q), which backs Musharraf, later confirmed that he was quitting the race at a news conference.
PPP spokesman Babar hailed the MQM support as "a positive development."
But PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said his party would nominate Sattar's replacement on Sunday.
"We have decided to contest the election for prime minister and not to withdraw from the political process," Hussain told reporters here.