Parliamentary committee fails to reach consensus on interim premier

Election commission will now have to decide on one name from the ones under deliberation within two days.

ISLAMABAD: The parliamentary committee formed to finalise a name for the caretaker prime minister failed to decided on a name, Express News reported on Friday.

"For the first time politicians had the time to make a political decision, but we have not been able to do that," committee member Chaudhry Shujaat said.

The committee wanted to take the decision themselves instead of letting the matter slide into the election commission’s court.

With the committee failing to decide on a name, the election commission will now select the caretaker prime minister within two days.

Former Law Minister Farooq H Naek pointed out that the amendment made to the law has a few lacunas and urged that the next government that is elected in looks into making the necessary changes which addresses the problem that arises when a deadlock happens.

Former Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira while critisising the delay, said, “Although we were very flexible, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) stubbornness has resulted in no consensus.” He was addressing media in Islamabad.

Earlier in the day, the final session of the parliamentary committee ended with no progress on the selection of an interim prime minister. But the session was slated to resume at 9pm.

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.

The PPP-led alliance sent the names of PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, PPP leaders Farooq H Naek and Khursheed Shah, and ANP leader Ghulam Ahmed Bilour to the speaker as its members for the parliamentary committee.

Sardar Mehtab Khan Abbasi, Senator Pervez Rashid, Khawaja Saad Rafique and Yaqoob Khan Nasir have been picked to negotiate on behalf of the opposition.