Meeting tomorrow: Abbasi, Shah to discuss caretaker setup

PPP yet to finalise its nominees for post of caretaker PM

ISLAMABAD: Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah is due to meet Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi tomorrow (Wednesday) to discuss a caretaker setup, but the Pakistan People Party (PPP), the main opposition, has not yet decided on its nominees for the position of caretaker premier.

“No such name has been finalised from the opposition side and I will have a meeting with the PM on April 11 to discuss the matter. Names will come after a [PPP] party meeting,” Shah said on Monday while talking to media in parliament.

“We’re trying to bring in good people and an able caretaker PM. The upcoming elections will depend heavily on caretaker PM,” he added.

The incumbent government is to end its five-year term by the end of the next month and then a caretaker government will take the reins which will hold general elections scheduled for July.

According to the Constitution, caretaker PM is appointed by the outgoing prime minister in consultation with opposition leader in the National Assembly. The two leaders present three nominees each and a single name is chosen with consensus.



Respect for parliament

Shah said all must respect state institutions, including parliament.

“When politicians don’t respect parliament, how can they ask judiciary and establishment to do so,” he questioned.  “If the current prime minister does not even accept the Senate chairman, he does not accept parliament either,” he added.

In a recent media talk, the PM had said he did not accept the newly-elected Senate chairperson Sadiq Sanjrani who won the Senate top slot “in an unfair way”. The ruling PML-N had failed to get its candidate elected in the polls despite its relative superiority in the upper house.

Talking about the new Islamabad airport, the opposition leader said it should be named after former Benazir Bhutto, warning that he would approach the Supreme Court if that did not happen.

“The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) keeps introducing new trends and strategies. [Deposed prime minister] Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan after 10 years in exile due to [the slain PPP chief] Benazir Bhutto, but Sharif’s fight with Benazir is baseless,” he said.

Sharif, Abbasi consultation

Referring to his recent meeting with PM Abbasi, ousted PM Nawaz Sharif said he discussed the caretaker setup with the premier. “The prime minister and I deliberated upon the matter during a meeting,” Sharif said while speaking to journalists outside the accountability court.

He, however, did not divulge the details.

Separately, PML-N’s Asif Kirmani asked journalists to wait until Shah, the opposition leader in NA, suggested names for caretaker PM. He said the mandate of the interim government was already written in the Constitution. “Its mandate is to hold free and fair elections and then leave,” he said.