Punjab caretaker CM: PPP nominates Justice (retd) Zahid Hussain

PPP nominee Asma Jahangir had refused to accept the office of caretaker chief minister of Punjab.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) nominated former Lahore High Court (LHC) judge Justice (retd) Syed Zahid Hussain for the post of caretaker chief minister of Punjab, Express News reported on Wednesday.

Earlier, the PPP had floated two names for the slot: Nawab of Bahawalpur Nawab Salahuddin Abbasi and Justice (retd) Arif Chaudhry.

Later on, a high-level delegation of the PPP visited the residence of Pakistan Muslim League -Quaid’s Punjab President where both agreed to unanimously announce the two names of Hafeez Akhtar Randhawa and Justice (retd) Hussain.

But when the party leader officially wrote to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the PPP had picked Randhawa from PML-Q’s list and included two new names on its own – Asma Jahangir and Mian Aamir Mehmood.

On Tuesday, Asma expressed her unwillingness to accept the office of caretaker chief minister of Punjab.

PML-N had also added Jahangir’s name in its preliminary list of caretaker prime ministers but the PTI had strongly raised objections over her name.