K-P caretaker CM to be decided by parliamentary committee

Committee formed to deliberate on candidates

PESHAWAR: After consistent disagreements between the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and the opposition, a parliamentary committee was constituted under Article 224 on Friday to select caretaker chief minister.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Shaukat Yousufzai said a six-member committee had been constituted to reach consensus on the matter. The committee comprises Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) nominated members Shah Farman, Atif Khan and Mahmood Khan and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) recommended Noor Saleem Khan, Mehmood Khan Betani and Mufti Fazal Ghafoor.

The committee will announce its decision within three days, he added.

However, opposition parties are reportedly out of the loop. The members of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslims League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) leaders are currently holding a meeting in the K-P Assembly’s opposition chambers.

Speaking to media, ANP Parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak said Leader of the Opposition Maulana Lutfur Rahman was representing his own party instead of speaking collectively for the opposition.



After the withdrawal of Manzoor Afridi's nomination for the interim slot, K-P Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and Opposition Leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman failed to agree on a candidate. The last round of negotiations between Khattak and Rehman ended without consensus on Thursday night.

The opposition pitched Justice (retd) Dost Mohammad Khan and Manzoor Afridi for the slot, while the government nominated bureaucrat Inayatullah Khan and Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi.

On Thursday night, the chief minister, Speaker Asad Qaiser and Shaukat Yousafzai from the PTI and Rehman and Mehmood Khan Betani from the opposition held the final round of negotiations in Islamabad but failed to reach a consensus.

As per Article 224 (A), the parliamentary committee of the K-P Assembly formed by the speaker, having equal representation from both the opposition and government, will be referred the matter. The committee will finalise the name within three days. In case the committee fails to finalise a candidate in three days, the decision will be handed over to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).



The K-P government on May 28 completed its five-year tenure and the provincial law department issued a notification dissolving the assembly but the name of caretaker chief minister remains in limbo.