Core committee: PML-N huddle to pick top slots

Incumbent Punjab Assembly speaker and deputy speaker may not retain posts.

LAHORE:

Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) decided on Monday to convene a core committee meeting before June 1 in which names for members of the cabinet, speaker and deputy speaker for the National and Punjab assemblies would be finalised, The Express Tribune has learnt.

During a party meeting, PML-N members decided against appointing the incumbent Punjab Assembly Speaker, Rana Muhammad Iqbal, and Deputy speaker Rana Mashood Khan to the posts in the next term.

Having already rejected Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party’s (PkMAP) leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai from taking up the office of the speaker National Assembly, the meeting decided that the post will be given to someone from the Punjab government, if there are no suitable candidates from other provinces.

Presiding over the meeting, former chief minister Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, asked for the names of suitable candidates which they would announce in the upcoming core committee meeting.

Majority of the party members expressed their dissatisfaction over the role of the Punjab Assembly speaker and deputy speaker.

They said Iqbal has made the speaker’s office worthless whereas Mashhood has become controversial due to his active role in holding the Youth Festival in Lahore.



Later, while talking to the media, Shahbaz said the government in Balochistan would be installed after consultations with PML-N’s allies in the province.

“Talks are under way with Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Hasil Bizenjo and Dr Abdul Malik in this regard,” he said. “We want a government in Balochistan that properly utilises funds and builds hospitals, colleges, schools and roads in the province.”

Nawaz’s meeting with SK Lambah

Separately, Indian Prime Minister’s Special Envoy Satinder K Lambah called on the premier-in-waiting Nawaz Sharif on Monday.

Lambah conveyed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s warm greetings and wishes to Nawaz Sharif. They discussed ways to take the dialogue process forward and address regional issues which are of concern to the neighbouring countries.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th, 2013.