Raja Pervez Ashraf A ‘Sacrificial Lamb’ In Zardari-Court Row?
Islamabad: Pakistan’s newly elected Prime Minsiter Raja Pervez Ashraf took oath of office on Friday following high drama which saw withdrawal of PPP’s first chosen candidate Makhdoom Shahabuddin after a court issued arrest warrant against him in a drug scam.
Ashraf, a unanimous candidate of the PPP and its coalition partners, received 211 votes while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Sardar Mehtab Abbasi got 89. The third candidate, Jamiat-ul-Ulema Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, withdrew his candidacy and stayed neutral.
The new PM may immediately come under pressure from the supreme court to launch corruption inquiry against Zardari. He is being seen as something of a sacrificial lamb. Soon after being elected, Ashraf vowed to hold free and fair elections and sought the opposition’s support for this. He promised to address the ongoing energy crisis in the country and stabilise the restive Balochistan province. Ashraf also promised “peaceful co-existence” with India and Afghanistan.
President Asif Ali Zardari congratulated Ashraf on his success and said “Ashraf ’s election as PM is an indication of the nation’s confidence in democracy.”
Ashraf has been active in national politics since 1988. He fought but lost parliamentary elections in 1990, 1993 and 1997, but won in 2002 and 2008. His repeated promises as minister of water and power in Gilani’s cabinet to end power shortages in one year remained unfulfilled and his tall claims became a joke in Pakistani media. Gilani dropped him from the cabinet in a reshuffle in February 2011. However, a few months later, he returned as minister for information technology. Ashraf ’s incompetent handling of the power sector and his alleged corruption in the infamous rental power projects is being hotly debated on TV channels. Critics call Ashraf “Raja Rental” for his alleged involvement in $1.5 billion rental power project scam. He denies those charges.
‘RAJA RENTAL’
Raja Parvez Ashaf, 61,
comes from a family of agriculturists
A strong loyalist of the Bhutto family, he was elected to the National Assembly from Gujar Khan constituency in Rawalpindi district
As water and power minister under PM Gilani, he was seen by many Pakistanis as someone who had failed to ease a crippling energy crisis
Resigned from Gilani’s cabinet in February last year after allegations of corruption in power projects
Ashraf oversaw the import of short-term power stations, or ‘rental power’ projects that cost the government millions of dollars but produced little energy. The policy earned him the nickname ‘Raja Rental’
Returned to the cabinet in April this year when he was appointed minister for information technology
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