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| PPP, PML-N ministers avoid meeting Musharraf | | | Islamabad | Apr 6
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and his depleted band of close aides have been left with little to do after the formation of a coalition government by the PPP and PML-N, whose ministers have been keeping away from the former military ruler.
The President, who is armed with key discretionary powers, has usually worked closely with new governments in Islamabad in the past. But in a departure from the past -- despite the ruling Pakistan People's Party saying it is willing to work with Musharraf -- the government ministers have been maintaining a distance from him.
There is an "undeclared ban" on PPP ministers and leaders meeting Musharraf, an official told 'The News'. Only ministers whose presence or appearance with the President is officially essential, in line with protocol requirements, are being allowed to meet him.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani is yet to hold an official one-on-one meeting with Musharraf. Gillani only met the President on the day he was sworn-in as Premier and again at the oath-taking of his Cabinet at the Aiwan-e-Sadr or presidency a few days later.
PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has not met the President and has no plans to see him in the near future, sources said. On the other hand, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has repeatedly called for Musharraf to resign following the rout of the President's supporters in the general election.
PML-N leaders who were sworn in as ministers by Musharraf wore black arm bands at the ceremony and stayed away from a subsequent reception hosted by the President. The PML-N says Musharraf, who deposed Sharif as prime minister in 1999, is an "unconstitutional and illegal President".
Federal secretaries, who usually made a beeline for the presidency before the polls, now hardly approach the President or his aides. Sources said the bureaucracy had already acknowledged Gillani as the new centre of power.
The President also no longer has a queue of visitors like ministers and foreign dignitaries waiting to see him at his office or residence.
Asked whether he would invite Musharraf to chair an international conference his ministry is organising, a federal minister said he would not do so because the President is just a "figurehead and had nothing to do with such events".
But a presidential aide said Musharraf's reduced workload "is how (things) should be after the new government has come in".
He said, "I have asked the President's staff to further cut down his daily appointments schedule as there is no need for hectic activities now." |
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