Summary An eight-member committee has been formed to select caretaker prime minister.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The deadlock over the appointment of caretaker prime minister persisted as the government and the opposition failed to evolve consensus.
Now an eight-member parliamentary committee formed to select the prime minister.
The members include Sardar Mahtab Abbasi, Sardar Yaqoob Nasir, Pervez Rasheed, Saad Rafiq, Chaudhry Shujaat, Farooq Naek, Khurshid Shah and Ghulam Bilour.
The committee has the mandate to choose a candidate for the position of caretaker prime minister within three days’ time.
Under the constitution, the parliamentary committee has to evolve a consensus on one name for the caretaker prime minister within three days and if it fails to do so in the stipulated time, the matter will automatically go to the Election Commission, which will have to finalise one name out of four, two each from the prime minister and the opposition leader in the NA.
The development followed a meeting of leaders of the Pakistan People Party (PPP), chaired by Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, which ended with the party unwilling to compromise on the names of its nominees for caretaker prime minister.
The PPP had initially proposed the names of Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Dr Ishrat Husain, and Justice (retd) Mir Hazar Khan Khoso for the position of caretaker PM. Moreover, the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz had proposed the names of Justice (retd) Nasir Aslam Zahid, Justice (retd) Shakirullah Jan and Rasul Bakhsh Palijo.
All four names from the opposition’s side of the committee are of PML-N members. However, constitutional experts have said PML-N has to give equal representation to all opposition parties in the committee so its members do not become controversial.
