Report: Pak to remove bar on third-time PM

The Pakistani government has decided to remove the bar on election of a prime minister more than twice as part of a deal between President Pervez Musharraf and self-exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, a daily has reported.

The restriction was imposed by Musharraf through a presidential ordinance to keep former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif away from power after accusing them of corruption. Subsequently, the ordinance was included in the Constitution as 6th Schedule through an amendment in 2004.

The president himself is set to do away with the bar by granting written permission to Parliament to amend the 6th schedule, The News quoted unnamed sources as saying.

In return, Pakistan People's Party would neither quit the assemblies at the time of the presidential poll between September 15 and October 15 this year nor boycott the same, the report said.

"The PPP legislators will sit in the central and provincial legislatures at the time of the presidential poll but will abstain from in voting, meaning they'll neither oppose nor support Musharraf's re-election as president for another five-year term," sources said.