The committee is due to meet again at 9pm to reach a decision. PHOTO: FILE
Criticising the delay, former Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said that it would have been better if the decision was taken in the first session.
While talking to the media in Islamabad, he said, “Although we were very flexible, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's (PML-N) stubbornness has resulted in no consensus.”
PML-N representative Khawaja Saad Rafique, while responding to Kaira’s statement told the media, “Whatever our reservations were, they were based on facts and evidence. If people think that we are not showing flexibility then they are wrong.”
He further anticipated that the parliamentary committee will meet again at 9pm and will talk seriously on the matter and will hopefully reach a consensus.
Earlier in the day it was reported that Rafique was acting as a middle-man for backdoor negotiations between the government and the opposition members, delivering messages back and forth.
Angered by these negotiations, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain refused to preside over the meeting, saying the committee has given its mandate to non-political forces.
He questioned the authority of the parliamentary committee given the ongoing unofficial mediation.
Members of the committee also expressed anger over PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan’s statements to the media on Friday, in which he hinted that the issue of selecting the caretaker PM would go to the Election Commission of Pakistan.
The eight-member committee was formulated on March 19 and were given the task to pick the next caretaker prime minister of Pakistan after the government and opposition parties failed to agree on a name.
The parliamentary committee, formulated by National Assembly speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza, was given time till today to appoint the interim prime minister.
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