- Title: PAKISTAN: PAKISTAN PRIME MINISTER-DESIGNATE SETS OUT ON PATH TO POWER
- Date: 6th July 2004
- Summary: (EU) ATTOCK, PAKISTAN (JULY 06, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV TRAFFIC IN THE STREET 0.04 2. CU BANNER SHOWING PHOTOGRAPH OF PAKISTAN'S PRIME MINISTER-DESIGNATE, SHAUKAT AZIZ', ON POLL IN THE STREET READING "WELCOME SHAUKAT AZIZ" (Urdu) 0.08 3. CU BOARD READING (English and Urdu): "SESSION COURT COMPLEX, ATTOCK" 0.12 4. SLV WHITE JEEP, CARRYING AZIZ, ARRIVING AT COURT HOUSE COMPOUND 0.15 5. SV SHAUKAT AZIZ, SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE, BEING LED TOWARDS THE COURT (2 SHOTS) 0.25 6. CU WOODEN SIGN READING "COURT, SARDAR TAHIR SABIR ADDITIONAL DISTRICT AND SESSION JUDGE, ATTOCK" " (Urdu) 0.28 7. SV INTERIOR OF THE COURT, SHAUKAT AZIZ, SHEIKH RASHEED, GOHAR AYUB AND PERVEZ ELAHI IN FRONT OF THE JUDGE AND SURROUNDED BY THRONG OF PEOPLE 0.33 8. MCU/SV OF PM-DESIGNATE SHAUKAT AZIZ IN FRONT OF THE JUDGE AND SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE (2 SHOTS) 0.40 9. SV JUDGE LOOKING AT PAPERS 0.44 10. SV AZIZ LEAVING COURT 0.50 11. SV/SLV PEOPLE THROWING FLOWERS ON AZIZ'S VEHICLE OUTSIDE THE COURT (2 SHOTS) 0.56 12. SLV AZIZ ADDRESSING PEOPLE 1.02 13. SV SECURITY 1.07 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 21st July 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ATTOCK, PAKISTAN
- Country: Pakistan
- Reuters ID: LVA3XJ0JBNC6OE89I9O2W5371X0N
- Story Text: Pakistan Prime Minister-designate sets out on path
to power.
Pakistan's prime minister-in-waiting, Shaukat Aziz
on Tuesday (July 6), began his campaign to acquire the
democratic credentials needed to qualify for a job most say
has been bestowed on him by military President Pervez
Musharraf.
Aziz travelled to Attock, a town west of the capital
Islamabad and on the bank of the Indus River, to file
nomination papers to contest a by-election for a
parliamentary seat he must win before he can become prime
minister.
Aziz is a former employee of Citibank in New York. The
silver-haired 55-year-old finance minister represents the
kind of moderate professionalism Musharraf wants to promote
in a country racked by Islamic militancy, poverty and
illiteracy.
But his image also draws negative remarks from
Pakistanis who complain that Musharraf, a key ally in the
U.S.-led war on terror, is too subservient to U.S. wishes.
Aziz has been widely credited with pulling Pakistan
back from the brink of bankruptcy in 1999, when he left the
world of high-flying business to become Pakistan's finance
minister at the behest of Musharraf, who took power in a
bloodless coup.
The most recent prime minister, Zafarullah Khan Jamali,
resigned on June 26. The same night it was announced that
Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, head of the pro-military ruling
Pakistan Muslim League, would fill in until Aziz arrived.
Analysts say Jamali did not offer sufficiently strong
support for Musharraf's controversial initiatives,
including the creation of a National Security Council which
the general will head.
Sectarian and political violence also escalated in
recent months in the port city of Karachi, further
undermining Jamali.
To smooth Aziz's path to the National Assembly,
Hussain's niece is vacating her seat in a rural constituency
encompassi
ng villages around Attock to
enable Aziz to contest.
In case the Attock election does not go his way, Aziz
will hand in a second set of nomination papers later this
week for Tharparkar in southern Sindh province.
Both by-elections are to be held on August 18.
Aziz will be fighting cricket legend Imran Khan, who on
Tuesday met other opposition groups to convince them to
choose him as a joint candidate against Aziz.
The Justice Movement, which is opposed to Musharraf,
won just one seat in the last elections in October 2002.
Despite criticism of the reshuffle, which left key
cabinet positions unchanged, Musharraf insists the new
prime ministers will not be subservient to him.
Musharraf declined to say if he would abide by a deal
with the opposition to step down as army chief by the end
of the year in return for sweeping powers, including the
right to dismiss the prime minister and dissolve parliament.
The West worries that, without his uniform, Musharraf
will become weaker and less able to press his crackdown on
militancy and the drive towards peace with nuclear-armed
rival India.
Addressing about 200 supporters gathered in Attock,
Aziz promised the people that if elected, he would kick
start a "new era, with fair, free and transparent
governance".
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