Bogged down: Search for interim PM far from over

Govt, opposition insist on their nominees but say they won’t allow the choice to slip into ECP’s hands.

Leaders of the exiting government and opposition have failed to agree on a caretaker set-up but they appear determined to not let the matter slip out of their hands to the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The former leader of the house and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly – Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan – have 48 hours to pick out an interim chief executive.

Or else the matter will go to an eight-member parliamentary committee which has equal representation from both the government and the opposition.

“The [former] government wants to develop consensus over the caretaker prime minister over the next two days so that the matter doesn’t go to the parliamentary committee,” a senior PML-N official told The Express Tribune on Sunday.



The committee is unlikely to come up with a solution – and the matter would ultimately go to the ECP, he added. “That is why both sides have shown some flexibility and have started to reconsider their nominees.”

Already the Pakistan Peoples Party has named four members of the committee namely PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain,  ANP senior leader Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, former law minister Farooq H Naek and former religious affairs minister Syed Khursheed Shah.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and other opposition groups have yet to name their members of the committee. It has, however, made it clear to the government that the opposition members would not include anyone from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which quit the PPP-led coalition days before the dissolution of the National Assembly.

By late Sunday, Chaudhry Shujaat held out the pledge that the parliamentary panel would settle the matter, if Ashraf and Chaudhry Nisar left it unresolved. “The appointment of the caretaker prime minister is the business of politicians … they know how to resolve the issue,” he told a news conference in Lahore.

Constitutionally, the prime minister and the leader of the opposition have to pick out a caretaker premier within three days after the dissolution of the National Assembly. If they fail, then an eight-member committee is assigned the task. And if the committee, too, fails to evolve a consensus, the ECP names the caretaker prime minister.

Widening the pool

Initially, Chaudhry Nisar proposed the names of Justice (Retd) Nasir Aslam Zahid, Justice (Retd) Shakirullah Jan and Sindhi nationalist leader Rasool Bux Palijo for interim prime minister. However, later he withdrew Justice Jan’s name without citing any reason.

Though Chaudhry Nisar said the opposition would insist of its nominees, his party’s central information secretary said the PML-N could consider if the PPP comes up with a better option.

“We have told the government we will consider if it suggests a better option than Justice (retd) Nasir Aslam Zahid,” PML-N Senator Mushahidullah Khan told The Express Tribune. Senator Khan hoped that the two sides might evolve a consensus today (Monday).

The PPP has proposed Justice (Retd) Mir Hazar Khan Khoso, former State Bank governor Dr Ishrat Hussain and former finance minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh head the interim set-up.

The sides are engaged in frantic efforts to hunt for a mutually acceptable candidate other than the ones they have already proposed. On Sunday, some new names were rumoured to have been proposed by the government including Asma Jahangir, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, and Senators Ishaq Dar, Raza Rabbani and Afrasiab Khattak.

When asked, Senator Khan dismissed them as rumours. “The government did not formally tell us of a change in its nominees,” he said.

Emerging differences

On the other hand, differences have emerged within the opposition over the withdrawal of Justice (Retd) Shakirullah Jan’s name.

The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) is incensed by the move and said that Chaudhry Nisar dropped Justice Jan’s name from the list without consulting Mualana Fazlur Rehman.

According to sources, the Maulana held an important meeting with PPP-Parliamentarians President Makhdoom Amin Fahim in Islamabad on Sunday. “During the meeting, Maulana Fazlur Rehman spoke against PML-N’s attitude towards his party,” a JUI-F official told The Express Tribune.

“The PML-N withdrew the name of our candidate without consulting us … I don’t think that an electoral alliance [with the PML-N] will be of any use if the party handles issues in such a manner,” he added.

However, JUI-F spokesman Maulana Amjad said the electoral alliance with the PML-N was still intact.

Senator Mushahidullah said JUI-F’s reservations were ‘beyond understanding’. Maulana Fazlur Rehman had agreed in a meeting with Nawaz Sharif that any candidate proposed by the PML-N would be acceptable to his party, Senator Mushahidullah claimed. “We are surprised as to why Maulana sahib changed his mind all of a sudden.”

A PML-N delegation comprising Senators Raja Zafarul Haq and Ishaq Dar met with the JUI-F chief earlier in the day, but failed to convince him to change his mind.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2013.