Caretaker set-up: Chaudhry Nisar refuses to meet PPP team

Says Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf should directly approach the leader of opposition for this purpose.


Azam Khan January 13, 2013
Says Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf should directly approach the leader of opposition for this purpose. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD:


Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan declined to meet a four-member committee constituted by President Asif Ali Zardari to hold talks on an interim set-up for the next general elections.


He is said to have conveyed this decision to the top leadership of his party – Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), attributing it to constitutional impediments.

According to 20th constitutional amendment, for the interim set-up to supervise general elections, the name of prime minister should be finalised in consultation with the leader of opposition and the incumbent premier should directly approach the leader of opposition for this purpose.

President Zardari had constituted a committee comprising MNA Syed Khursheed Shah, Senator Mian Raza Rabbani, Law Minister Farooq H Naek and Nazar Muhammad Gondal to initiate negotiations.

Sources said PML-N Senator Ishaq Dar is already in touch with the committee. He met with Senator Rabbani and other members of the committee earlier this week.



However, Chaudhry Nisar wants that once the talks mature, Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf should directly approach him. The PML-N has already proposed some names for caretaker prime minister through some backdoor channels. No PML-N leader was available to confirm the development.

PML-N to table motion over Quetta blasts

Chaudhry Nisar, meanwhile, condemned Thursday’s killing of innocent people in Quetta. “There can be no such example of terrorism and barbarism. We fully share the grief of the victim families … and raise our voice against such open injustice,” he said in a statement.



Chaudhry Nisar said the indifference of the federal and provincial governments over this tragic incident is highly condemnable, which did not bother even to visit the site and listen to the protesters but left them at the mercy of the situation.

He said the PML-N would table a motion in the National Assembly over the Quetta incident and demand the federal government expose the hidden hands behind this heinous crime and take those to task involved in it.

He also expressed grief over the death of journalists during the coverage of the blasts in Quetta and demanded the federal government ensure protection of life and property of its citizens.

(WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY OUR CORRESPONDENT IN LAHORE)

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13th, 2013.

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