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Pakistani PM chooses senior ministers
By Simon Cameron-Moore
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's new prime minister has chosen senior ministers who should be welcomed by businessmen and calm some U.S. nerves over cooperation on counterterrorism, a source close to the incoming government said on Thursday.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani will announce 22 members of his cabinet on Saturday when he seeks a vote of confidence in the National Assembly, a spokeswoman for his party said.
Gilani is a senior member of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and is forming a coalition with the party of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, and two smaller parties.
The two main coalition partners defeated the former ruling party that backs President Pervez Musharraf in the Feb. 18 parliamentary election, raising speculation that U.S. ally Musharraf could be forced to quit in the coming weeks or months.
The source close to the government told Reuters on Thursday that the PPP, led by Bhutto's widower Asif Ali Zardari, wanted a steady transition to civilian rule after 8-1/2 years under Musharraf, who came to power as a general in a 1999 coup.
Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf deposed, is pushing for Musharraf to go sooner rather than later, the source said.
Allies and near neighbours have been concerned about the safety of Pakistan's nuclear arms, as al Qaeda-inspired militants have intensified efforts to destabilise the Muslim nation with a wave of suicide attacks on security forces and politicians.
The incoming government was unlikely to change the nuclear command and control system, overseen by the National Command Authority, chaired by the president, with the prime minister acting as vice chairman, the source said.
"There's no reason to change anything in a hurry," he said.
"The PPP's preference for everything is steady, gentle transition," he added, saying that the same went for Musharraf's future and operational relationships with the United States in counterterrorism.
The U.S. military is anxious that the switch to dealing with an elected government, rather than Musharraf, could hamper its operations, but it would have to adjust to working with the new Pakistani leaders, the source said.
WHO GETS WHAT
PPP politicians were being appointed to ministries handling national security related issues, including defence, interior and foreign affairs, as well as those covering the social sector, like health and women's affairs.
Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party will be in charge of ministries dealing with macro-economic issues, including finance, water and power and petroleum.
"Initially, we're talking about a 22-member cabinet," PPP spokeswoman Sherry Rehman said, adding it would be expanded later.
Investors, who have fond memories of Sharif's pro-business governments in the 1990s, are expected to welcome the new faces.
Pakistani shares ended at a new closing high as investors banked on a period of political stability. The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index rose 0.50 percent to end at 15,275.47.
Helping the United States hunt al Qaeda has brought Pakistan's army into conflict with its own people, and tribes living in the semi-autonomous lands along the Afghan border have been alienated by Musharraf's policies.
Rehman declined to disclose the names of ministers, but the source close to the government said Shah Mehmood Qureshi will become foreign minister and Ishaq Dar will be finance minister.
Qureshi, 52, is president of the PPP in Punjab, Pakistan's richest province and home to half its 160 million people,
He belongs to a land-owning family, graduated from Britain's Cambridge University, and switched from Sharif's party to Bhutto's in the mid-1990s.
Dar, 60, is a member of Sharif's party. An accountant by training, he was commerce minister in 1997 and became finance minister a year later.
Generally well regarded, Dar was criticised for what some saw as a naive approach to markets, blaming speculators for currency and stock market volatility during an economic crisis triggered by sanctions over nuclear tests in 1998. Dar subsequently negotiated an IMF rescue package.
After the coup he was detained for two years.
(Additional reporting by Kamran Haider)
By Simon Cameron-Moore
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's new prime minister has chosen senior ministers who should be welcomed by businessmen and calm some U.S. nerves over cooperation on counterterrorism, a source close to the incoming government said on Thursday.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani will announce 22 members of his cabinet on Saturday when he seeks a vote of confidence in the National Assembly, a spokeswoman for his party said.
Gilani is a senior member of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and is forming a coalition with the party of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, and two smaller parties.
The two main coalition partners defeated the former ruling party that backs President Pervez Musharraf in the Feb. 18 parliamentary election, raising speculation that U.S. ally Musharraf could be forced to quit in the coming weeks or months.
The source close to the government told Reuters on Thursday that the PPP, led by Bhutto's widower Asif Ali Zardari, wanted a steady transition to civilian rule after 8-1/2 years under Musharraf, who came to power as a general in a 1999 coup.
Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf deposed, is pushing for Musharraf to go sooner rather than later, the source said.
Allies and near neighbours have been concerned about the safety of Pakistan's nuclear arms, as al Qaeda-inspired militants have intensified efforts to destabilise the Muslim nation with a wave of suicide attacks on security forces and politicians.
The incoming government was unlikely to change the nuclear command and control system, overseen by the National Command Authority, chaired by the president, with the prime minister acting as vice chairman, the source said.
"There's no reason to change anything in a hurry," he said.
"The PPP's preference for everything is steady, gentle transition," he added, saying that the same went for Musharraf's future and operational relationships with the United States in counterterrorism.
The U.S. military is anxious that the switch to dealing with an elected government, rather than Musharraf, could hamper its operations, but it would have to adjust to working with the new Pakistani leaders, the source said.
WHO GETS WHAT
PPP politicians were being appointed to ministries handling national security related issues, including defence, interior and foreign affairs, as well as those covering the social sector, like health and women's affairs.
Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party will be in charge of ministries dealing with macro-economic issues, including finance, water and power and petroleum.
"Initially, we're talking about a 22-member cabinet," PPP spokeswoman Sherry Rehman said, adding it would be expanded later.
Investors, who have fond memories of Sharif's pro-business governments in the 1990s, are expected to welcome the new faces.
Pakistani shares ended at a new closing high as investors banked on a period of political stability. The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index rose 0.50 percent to end at 15,275.47.
Helping the United States hunt al Qaeda has brought Pakistan's army into conflict with its own people, and tribes living in the semi-autonomous lands along the Afghan border have been alienated by Musharraf's policies.
Rehman declined to disclose the names of ministers, but the source close to the government said Shah Mehmood Qureshi will become foreign minister and Ishaq Dar will be finance minister.
Qureshi, 52, is president of the PPP in Punjab, Pakistan's richest province and home to half its 160 million people,
He belongs to a land-owning family, graduated from Britain's Cambridge University, and switched from Sharif's party to Bhutto's in the mid-1990s.
Dar, 60, is a member of Sharif's party. An accountant by training, he was commerce minister in 1997 and became finance minister a year later.
Generally well regarded, Dar was criticised for what some saw as a naive approach to markets, blaming speculators for currency and stock market volatility during an economic crisis triggered by sanctions over nuclear tests in 1998. Dar subsequently negotiated an IMF rescue package.
After the coup he was detained for two years.
(Additional reporting by Kamran Haider)
