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Pakistan's Ex-Premier Nominates Acting Party President
Deposed Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Saturday nominated Javaid Hashmi as the Acting President of Pakistan Muslim Party (PML), the former ruling party.
The nomination came as Sharif is reportedly leaving for Saudi Arabia on Sunday under an agreement with the military government which had dismissed Sharif's PML government in October last year.
According to a statement signed by the deposed prime minister, the nomination of Javaid Hashmi, one of PML's five or six vice presidents and former health minister, as the Acting President shall become operative on December 10, 2000.
The decision was made as a response to the request from some senior PML leaders who wrote to Sharif, stressing the need to name an acting president for the party, said the statement.
Some big names such as Illahi Soomro, former speaker of National Assembly, Wasim Sajjad, former speaker of Senate and Sartaj Aziz, former foreign minister, were on the list of those who wrote the letter to Sharif.
However, Javaid Hashmi is widely thought to be the most loyal to the Sharif family.
Nawaz Sharif was put into jail after being convicted in a hijacking case and other cases, but he had repeatedly refused to name new party president or acting president prior to recent media reports about a possible deal with the government.
On Saturday morning Sharif's wife, Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, said they were ready to accept the offer if the government let the former prime minister, who is suffering from "various diseases," go abroad for treatments.
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