The second round of consultations between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and National Assembly Opposition Leader Raja Riaz will continue their consultations on selecting a name for caretaker premier today.
The first meeting between the two took place on Thursday at the Prime Minister’s House. It was followed by a media talk by Riaz wherein he asserted that they were in no hurry to decide the name for the caretaker prime minister.
Riaz said the hour-long meeting with PM Shehbaz was held in a cordial and conducive environment. “I will deliberate on the names given by the PM, and similarly, the PM sahib will go through the names given by me,” he said.
While refusing to reveal any of the candidates under consideration for the caretaker PM’s slot, Riaz said six names came under discussion during the first meeting on the matter and all of them were “respectable people”.
“We will hold further deliberations [on Friday] and hope that things will become pretty clear after that,” he added.
The premier and the outgoing opposition leader in the NA have three days to decide the name of the interim prime minister.
In case the two fail to agree on a name, the matter would be referred to a parliamentary committee. If the committee fails to make any decision, then the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will have two days to choose the caretaker prime minister from the list of names shared with the commission.
Some in political circles believe that PM Shehbaz wants to stay in office till Aug 14 so he could attend the flag-hoisting ceremony on Independence Day, after which a caretaker premier will take an oath.
Interestingly, on July 12, the prime minister had first said that his government’s tenure would end on August 14, although the information minister later clarified that the PM had gotten the date wrong.
As per the Constitution, PM Shehbaz can act as the caretaker prime minister till the appointment of the head of the interim set-up. Article 94 of the Constitution says, “The president may ask the prime minister to continue to hold office until his successor enters upon the office of prime minister.”
One of the reasons for delay in deciding the name of the head of interim set-up is believed to be the PML-N’s desire to see its own man in office. Sources said PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari were calling the shots on the issue of the appointment of the caretaker PM in consultation with the “third party”.
More names
As both sides held the names of nominees close to their chest after Thursday’s meeting, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani also emerged as “one of the strongest contenders” for the coveted slot.
He held separate meetings with PM Shehbaz and Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
A senior leader of the PML-N told Dawn that Sanjrani was “one of the strongest candidates”. “The Senate chairman can be the dark horse,” he said while referring to Defence Minister Khawaja Asif who had first used the term “dark horse”.
Other possible contenders are Jilal Abbas Jilani, former finance ministers Dr Hafeez Sheikh and Ishaq Dar, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, ex-principal secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad, ex-justice Tassaduq Jilani, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, Pir Pagaro, and Makhdoom Mehmood Ahmed.
