President writes to Imran, Shehbaz for caretaker PM appointment

President Arif Alvi on Monday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan and the opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif to "propose a suitable person for appointment" as a caretaker premier under Article 224 A (1) of the Constitution of Pakistan.

A day earlier, President Alvi dissolved the National Assembly on the advice of Prime Minister Imran Khan, hours after the National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri declared the opposition’s no-confidence motion “unconstitutional” and prorogued the house without voting on it.

The prime minister advised the president to dissolve the assembly under Article 58 of the Constitution. Imran took the decision of sending the summary after accusing the joint opposition of working with the United States to overthrow his government.

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According to a press release, the president conveyed to both leaders that in case the PM and the leader of the opposition "do not agree on any person to be appointed as the caretaker prime minister, within three days of the dissolution of the National Assembly, they shall forward two nominees each to a Committee to be immediately constituted by the Speaker of the National Assembly, comprising eight members of the outgoing National Assembly, or the Senate, or both, having equal representation from the Treasury and the Opposition, to be nominated by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition respectively, in pursuance of Article 224A(1) of the Constitution of Pakistan'.

The president further notified that the incumbent PM Imran Khan shall continue to hold the office of the premier till the appointment of the caretaker prime minister under Article 224A(4) of the Constitution.

PHOTO: EXPRESS