PPP pitches two candidates for interim PM slot

PM Abbasi, Khursheed Shah will now meet on Tuesday to resume talks on caretaker setup

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) put forth the names of two candidates for the caretaker prime minister slot, Express News reported.

Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Zaka Ashraf and former foreign secretary Jalil Abbas Jillani were recommended by the opposition party.

Zaka Ashraf PHOTO: FILE

Jalil Abbasi Jillani PHOTO: FILE

Another round of talks in this regard is scheduled to be held on Tuesday.

Talks between the prime minister and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly remained inconclusive on Friday. Both sides failed to finalise the prospective caretaker prime minister before the PM left for Turkey.



Sources privy to the Abbasi-Shah meeting said the opposition leader sought the PM to pick either former governor State Bank Dr Ishrat Hussain or Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to United Nations Dr Maleeha Lodhi or former chief justice of the Supreme Court Tassaduq Hussain Jillani.

The government, however, was pressing for one of its own candidates: Former secretary of the ECP Ishtiak Ahmad Khan and former chief justices Jawad S Khawaja and Anwar Zaheer Jamali.