Daily Times

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday held yet another round of consultation with leaders of the allied parties on the name of caretaker prime minister as the government was about to complete its constitutional term, a private TV channel reported.

In a meeting, the prime minister took the leaders of the allied parties, including PPP Chairman and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, PDM and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, MQM-P’s Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, BNP-M’s Akhtar Mengal, JWP’s Shahzain Bugti and NDM’s Mohsin Dawar, in confidence regarding the caretaker set-up and dissolution of the National Assembly on August 9.

Following the deliberation, media reports said, the heads of the allied parties lauded Shehbaz’s roughly 15-month government and expressed satisfaction with his leadership.

During the meeting, they said, the leadership of the ruling alliance deliberated upon different names for the caretaker prime minister and gave different suggestions about the future course of action.

The ruling coalition has held several meetings regarding the caretaker set-up but hasn’t yet reached any decision.

The names of former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and independent lawmaker from Balochistan Aslam Bhootani among others are being considered for the caretaker prime minister, media reports said. A private TV channel reported that ex-finance minister Hafeez Sheikh and Fawad Hassan Fawad, ex-principal secretary to Nawaz Sharif, are also among those that were discussed in the meeting of allied parties. However, the coalition parties have decided to continue further consultation, they said, adding that the meeting of the coalition parties will be held again. The names of Abbasi, Hafeez Sheikh, and others were also considered in the meeting as candidates for the interim PM slot.

The leaders of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) held back-to-back meetings, but no decision has been taken so far in this regard. At a dinner reception on Thursday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had revealed to the allied that the National Assembly will be dissolved prematurely on August 9 – three days before its term.

Speaking at the dinner Thursday night, the premier said after the formation of the coalition government on April 11 last year, he faced unprecedented challenges including economic difficulties, cumbersome talks with International Monetary Fund (IMF), disastrous floods, hyperinflation, and political chaos. Shehbaz had said the uphill challenge of IMF gave him sleepless nights as the lack of an IMF agreement would have burdened the economy, put pressure on foreign exchange reserves, devalued the rupee, and caused unemployment.

Under Article 224 (1) of the Constitution (time of election and by-election), a general election to the National Assembly or a provincial assembly shall be held within a period of 60 days following the day on which the term of the assembly is due to expire, unless the assembly has been sooner dissolved. Under 224 (1A), on the dissolution of the assembly on completion of its term, or in case it is dissolved under Article 58 or Article 112, the president, or the governor, as the case may be, shall appoint a caretaker cabinet.

Provided, it says, the caretaker prime minister shall be [appointed] by the president in consultation with the prime minister and the leader of the opposition in the outgoing National Assembly, and a caretaker chief minister shall be appointed by the governor in consultation with the chief minister and the Leader of the opposition in the outgoing provincial assembly.

It adds that if the prime minister or a chief minister and their respective leaders of the opposition do not agree on any person to be appointed as a caretaker prime minister or the caretaker chief minister, as the case may be, the provisions of Article 224A shall be followed.

Provided that the members of the federal and provincial caretaker cabinets shall be appointed on the advice of the caretaker prime minister or the caretaker chief minister, as the case may be.

Article 224 (1B), however, states that the members of the caretaker cabinets, including the caretaker prime minister and the caretaker chief minister and their immediate family members shall not be eligible to contest the immediately following elections to such assemblies.