President asks Shehbaz, opposition leader to name caretaker PM by Aug 12

PM, opposition leader should suggest name of caretaker PM within three days of NA dissolution, Alvi states in letter

ISLAMABAD:

President Dr Arif Alvi has written a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Leader of the Opposition Raja Riaz, asking them to build consensus and name a caretaker prime minister by Saturday.

The letter states that under Article 224(1)A of the Constitution, the president appoints the caretaker prime minister with the advice of the prime minister and the opposition leader.

According to the Constitution, the prime minister and the opposition leader have to propose the name of the caretaker premier within three days of the dissolution of the National Assembly, which took place on Wednesday.

The president states in the letter that he dissolved the National Assembly on August 9 by accepting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s advice. Now, the PM and opposition leader should suggest the name of a suitable caretaker premier within the time stipulated in the Constitution.

Talks between Shehbaz and Raja Riaz have been ongoing since Wednesday, with the second round of deliberations scheduled to take place today.

According to a press release from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the premier invited the leader of the opposition for consultation as per provisions of the Constitution.

Also read Shehbaz, Raja Riaz to meet again for consultations on caretaker PM

The first meeting for this purpose was held in a cordial manner a day earlier, however, the two failed to reach a consensus on a single name and decided to take up the matter again.

“We’ve yet to reach a consensus,” the opposition leader told reporters after leaving the PM House.

The official statement released after the rendezvous read that PM Shehbaz and Riaz would meet again on Friday to deliberate further on the names proposed in the consultation held on Thursday.

The opposition leader said the names would not be revealed until one of them was finalised.

However, he added that he had shared the names of the candidates he favoured with the premier, hoping that matters would be sorted out on Friday.

Although both leaders have so far failed to reach a consensus, Riaz was hopeful that they would agree on a single candidate out of the six names exchanged between them for the interim premier’s slot in the subsequent meetings.

Speculations have been making rounds about different contenders for the post of caretaker premier for weeks now but there is no official word yet.

Under the Constitution, the two have three days to reach agreement on a caretaker leader. If they can't, the decision will go to a parliamentary committee, and if it can't agree, then the Election Commission of Pakistan will decide.

The lower house of parliament was dissolved on Wednesday, three days before the end of its five-year term on Aug 12.

A general election in the South Asian country of 241 million people should be held in 90 days but it could be delayed for several months because the election commission has to redraw the boundaries of hundreds of constituencies based on a new census data.