Fahim, who was once celebrated as the frontrunner for the PM’s chair, is heading towards a collision course with PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari. But coalition members had earlier told Zardari that they would accept a PPP candidate for the top post.

Pakistan will get a new prime minister on Monday when the National Assembly meets to elect the leader of the House, ending nearly a month long speculation over the occupant of the top office.

President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday summoned the National Assembly to meet on March 24 to elect a Prime Minister.

About 240 parliamentarians, including 10 independent lawmakers from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, attended the coalition meeting in which Fahim made the statement.

Moreover, Senior PPP leader Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar criticised Fahim for presiding over the meeting in the absence of Zardari. Mukhtar later walked out in a hurry and refused to speak to journalists. The PPP is yet to announce its prime ministerial candidate nearly a month after the poll results were announced.  

Graft cases dropped

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday directed authorities to drop graft cases against senior PPP leader and former minister Jehangir Badar.

ATTACKED

Five soldiers died and 10 got injured after a suicide bomber attacked an army vehicle outside a Pakistani army camp in South Waziristan region on Thursday, reports PTI.

The suicide bomber detonated the explosive charge just as the vehicle was leaving the army camp in Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan Division, official sources told Dawn News. Initial reports said seven soldiers died.