Nevertheless, we will soon have Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as the face of our leadership
PHOTO: EXPRESS
However, it will wait till Monday before Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Khursheed Shah sends his nominees to the National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq with request to form parliamentary panel to decide a name for caretaker premier.
“There are hardly any chances (of agreement on caretaker PM], still we have decided to wait till Monday,” said a PPP leader.
Earlier, the PPP had decided that Shah will be sending names of Zaka Ashraf and Jalil Abbas Jillali to the NA speaker as his nominees for the office of caretaker PM as he is no more hopeful of reaching consensus on a name with Prime Minister Abbasi.
Parliamentary committee likely to decide caretaker PM: Khursheed Shah
Sources in the PPP said Shah was likely to send letter to the speaker on Friday evening or Saturday. However, on second thought, the PPP leadership deferred the matter till Monday as Shah left for Karachi.
The opposition leader is scheduled to be back in Islamabad on Monday. “Since we have time, we want to avail every opportunity if it arises during this time,” the PPP leader said.
In case stalemate persists, Shah would send letter to the speaker along with his nominees for PM’s slot with the request to form the eight-member committee having equal representation from treasury and opposition benches.
The proposed committee once notified would be tasked to select one of the four nominees – the two names sent by leader of the opposition and two by the prime minister within three days of its notification.
If this committee also fails to evolve consensus within the time, the matter would be referred to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for appointing the caretaker prime minister. Same is the procedure for caretaker chief ministers in case of provinces.
Given composition of the committee and current political situation, there are hardly any chances that penal will be able to decide a consensus candidate for interim PM. It is most likely that matter would again go in the ECP like it did in 2013.
Government yet to make public its choice
Though different names are circulating in media as probable choice of government, Prime Minister Abbasi has not disclosed any publicly. He told journalists on Thursday that besides the names already discussed with Shah, there can be any new names as well in case the matter is referred to the parliamentary committee or to the ECP.
The PPP has accused government of failure to reach any agreement. Sherry Rehman, who holds the office of leader of opposition in Senate, said the government is bringing new names every time.
“They bring new names out of nowhere. We don’t know are these their nominees or these names are coming from somewhere else,” Rehman said in a statement.
PTI not in favour of PPP nominees
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has no constitutional role in choosing caretaker set-up in the centre but being the second largest opposition party it has political say in the matter. It differs with the PPP over its nominees. It has already rejected the name of Zaka Ashraf and Jalil Abbas Jilani.
The PTI proposes names of former chief justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, State Bank former governor Ishrat Hussain and former minister Abdul Razzaq Daud.
Neither the PM nor leader of opposition is bound to consider PTI nominees. However, PTI would surely have representation in the eight-member parliamentary committee from the opposition side.
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