Daily Times

LAHORE: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday announced analyst and professor Dr. Hasan Askari as caretaker Cheif Minister (CM) of Punjab.

While speaking to the media, newly appointed caretaker CM said that no party should be worried about the transparency of elections.

Earlier, the parliamentary committee had failed to reach a consensus over the election of the recommended names.

The ruling party had recommended names of Justice (r) Sair Ali and Admiral (r) M Zakaullah whereas the opposition parties had given the names of Ayaz Amir and Dr. Hasan Askari.

The parliamentary committee meeting ended in a deadlock earlier on Wednesday, as government and opposition parties failed to finalize the name of Punjab’s caretaker CM.

The parliamentary committee comprised of representatives from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) including Rana Sanaullah, Khawaja Imran Nazir, and Malik Ahmed Khan while Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was represented by former opposition leader Mehmood-ur-Rasheed, Sibtain Khan and Shoaib Siddiqui.

PTI leader on Wednesday spoke to the media after the meeting, stating that PML-N was bent over to elect former Pakistan Navy Chief Admiral M Zakaullah. However, PTI rejected the name as he had no administrative experience.

Rasheed lashed out towards PML-N’s inflexible attitude due to which the matter was passed on to ECP.

Earlier Punjab government had suggested Nasir Mahmood Khosa’s name which was withdrawn by PTI after criticism from the party workers.

In the second phase of the negotiations, Shehbaz Sharif had nominated names of M Zakaullah, former DG Intelligence Bureau Aftab Sultan, Justice (r) Sair Ali and former IG Punjab Tariq Saleem Dogar. Whereas, PTI had presented names of Orya Maqbool Jan, Yaqub Izhara, and Hasan Askari.