The Pakistani People's Party (PPP) of Asif Zardari will retain a parliament majority, Fehmida Mirza, Speaker of the National Assembly, told Saudi Gazette, Monday. Mirza, the country's first woman Speaker of the National Assembly, said that the PPP has the support of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q of former president Pervez Musharraf and the Mutteheda Qaumi Movement (MQM) of Altaf Hussain to form a government if PML-N quits the coalition. “The PPP won't accept deadlines,” Mirza said, referring to Sharif's Monday ultimatum to reinstate the Supreme Court judges sacked by Musharraf last November when he declared an emergency. “There can be negotiations, but no deadlines,” she said. Mirza, 51, made history in March when she became her country's first woman speaker after the PPP emerged as the single largest party in Feb, 18 general elections. She was introduced to politics in 1997 by former premier Benazir Bhutto who was assassinated last December. Trained as a doctor, Mirza has been a member of the national assembly for three consecutive terms from 1997. Now, as speaker, she is trying to keep the coalition intact after Musharraf's resignation last week to avoid an impeachment motion. She said the prevailing situation in the country with terrorist attacks on the rise and an economic meltdown calls for the two major parties “to work together for the people of Pakistan and for the larger interests of the country.” “It is very important that they (PPP and PML-N) sit down, negotiate, arrive at the middle road, and move forward.” In Mirza's view, now is the time to look beyond individual aspirations and speak about strengthening the country's institutions. “Pakistan has always had a problem with the judiciary,” she said. “The country has suffered a lot because there was no fair judiciary - there was a lot of manipulation of the judiciary.” When asked whether she favored scrapping the 17th Amendment that gives the president the power to dismiss government and appoint military chiefs and Supreme Court judges, Mirza, whose PPP party Co-Chairman Zardari is the front runner for presidential polls on Sept. 6, said: “I believe in the supremacy of parliament.” She said the country was going through a period of transition after “the major mistakes” committed by Musharraf in the past nine years. “We cannot correct these mistakes overnight,” Mirza said, appealing to the democratic institutions to work together for the good of the country. “We should not follow our hearts but our minds. I can think with my heart about what Musharraf did to me but now I must also think of the nation,” she said. Mirza, along with Zardari, Sharif and current Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani had all been jailed by Musharraf. The speaker said that Musharraf's policy of fighting terrorism was double-faced. “Musharraf was telling the world he was fighting terrorism, which he was not doing on the ground.” She said Pakistan is a “victim of the aftermath of the Cold War,” but remains firm in continuing its policy of fighting terrorism. Appealing to overseas Pakistanis to send aid, she said more than 300,0000 civilians have been displaced by the nearly three-week-old offensive in the northwestern Bajur area. __
