Daily Times

That one should always remain extra cautious when popping the celebratory balloons and should have read the brief given to finance minister Ishaq Dar when notified about his possible candidacy for caretaker prime minister. Just a day after rumours of his ascent started making rounds in the media, the ruling party appears to have begun back-peddling. An outright rejection from allies and opponents alike is said to have forced this inconvenient about-turn.

With PPP’s Sherry Rehman dismissing such reports as something that was yet to be discussed with her party and PTI’s Imran Khan slamming the entire exercise as a “big joke,” perhaps, the leading party found itself in a stickier predicament that it could manage on its own, which ultimately led to the distance from the king’s favourite soldier.

While Mr Dar may not have been the chosen one, there are rumours of PML(N) still insisting on going forward with someone of its own choosing no matter what the circumstances may be. It has been repeatedly argued that a caretaker setup should pick up the reins with only one agenda: the continuation of government policies. But while this may float the sitting government’s boat as it prepares to leave the coveted hot seat to hop aboard the campaigning bandwagon, only a neutral, unbiased, preferably of a non-political background can ensure the holding of free and fair elections. The government mouthpieces had acknowledged this themselves when making a desperate case against elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

If elected assemblies in two provinces would have emerged as major stumbling blocks for the election commission to do its constitutionally-mandated job with regard to general polls then, won’t the same dogma hold ground now? The leading parties can only be advised to let sanity prevail and let the interim setup remain apolitical.

No matter what its performance may have been behind the wheel, the government should have enough confidence in its vote bank to not taint the credibility of the entire polling process. *