Alvi, ex-ministers discuss appointment of caretaker PM

President Arif Alvi and former federal ministers on Tuesday discussed legal issues related to the appointment of caretaker prime minister following the dissolution of the National Assembly on April 3 on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s advice.

The discussion took place during a high-level meeting held at the Presidency. The meeting was chaired by the president and attended by Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan, former federal ministers Babar Awan, Fawad Chaudhry, Imtiaz Siddiqui, Asad Umar, Shafqat Mahmood and Pervez Khattak.

Sources privy to the development said that the president wants to keep the way open for consultation with the opposition. PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif is considering sending two names in response to the letter, they added.

The sources said that Shehbaz aims to take the matter of nomination of the caretaker prime minister to the parliamentary committee so that the government does not take any unilateral decision.

They said that the opposition proposed the name of Justice Maqbool Baqir, who recently retired from the Supreme Court, for the post of caretaker prime minister.

They added that in view of the haste in the appointment of the caretaker PM by the government, the opposition leadership may take up the matter in the Supreme Court while it has already asked the Islamabad High Court to stop the appointment process.

The meeting was briefed on the hearing in the Supreme Court and considered the government's strategy.