press trust of india
LAHORE, 31 MAY: The PPP will field senior leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim against PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif for the election of the new premier in Parliament on 5 June, rejecting a request to facilitate a unanimous vote.
Former federal minister Fahim heads the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians, the name under which the party is registered with the Election Commission. He will be Pakistan Peoples Party’s candidate for the election to be held in the National Assembly on 5 June.
However, the PPP’s move will not affect Mr Sharif as the PML-N has a majority in the 342-member lower house of the parliament.
PML-N leaders said Mr Sharif’s election for an unprecedented third term as premier will be a mere formality.
The PPP had earlier indicated it might vote for Mr Sharif in order to continue its policy of reconciliation with other political parties.
When the PPP emerged the single largest party in the 2008 polls, its prime ministerial candidate, Mr Yousuf Raza Gilani, was elected unopposed in the National Assembly. However, most PPP leaders were of the view that their party would be further marginalised if it goes soft on the PML-N at the centre.
They believe Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf is a potential threat to
the PPP and may deprive it of its role
as Opposition at the centre if the
PPP continues its reconciliation
policy and becomes a “friendly opposition”.
PPP secretary general Sardar Latif Khosa said: “My party is the second largest party with 38 seats in the National Assembly and it is not going to be subservient to any other party,” he said.
The Tehrik-e-Insaf, the third largest party in parliament with 31 seats, has fielded Javed Hashmi for the slot of premier.

Anti-Taliban fighter killed in Pak blast
ISLAMABAD, 31 MAY: A member of an anti-Taliban militia was killed when a bomb went off on the outskirts of Peshawar city in northwest Pakistan today, police said. The bomb planted under some stones was detonated by remote control while Najeem Khan was driving through the Badabher area of Peshawar on a motorcycle. Khan was killed instantly, police said. pti