Caring hands

Politicians should accept Khoso with good grace and cooperate with him at every stage.

We finally have a caretaker prime minister in place. At the end of a long and arduous selection process, Justice (retd) Mir Hazar Khan Khoso from Balochistan has been chosen by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in a majority decision to run the country until the next government is elected in May. Khoso has a ‘clean’ reputation and was one of the nominees put forward by the PPP. He has already promised to assist the ECP in ensuring a fair and transparent election at all costs.



The process of putting a caretaker PM in place has taken its toll. Politicians failed in their task of doing so unanimously. The government and opposition initially failed to reach agreement on a candidate; following this, the parliamentary committee, consisting of an equal number of members from both sides was also unable to reach a decision despite three days of talks. In this situation, political figures have no right to protest. Yet we are hearing cries from the PML-N and some others that Khoso, aged 84, is not a good choice; that he is a PPP supporter and generally a ‘weak’ person. The member Punjab of the ECP, Justice (retd) Riaz Kiyani also recorded his dissent. But, we must uphold principle. The choice of caretaker must not be made into a controversial matter. The full constitutional process has been duly followed with the ECP stepping in only after the politicians were unable to come to a decision. They must now accept Khoso with good grace and cooperate with him at every stage.

The test of our democracy continues. So far, things
have gone well in the run-up to the polls. We must hope this will continue. As a Baloch, Khoso also symbolises an effort to mainstream that province. This, too, is a good omen for the country. The task before him now is to set up a stable and trustworthy caretaker government, able to manage affairs for the next few weeks and prepare for elections which will set the direction for the next five years. We should be glad a caretaker is finally in place after so long a wait.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2013.