Pakistan political parties fail to name caretaker PM

Islamabad, May 25 (IANS) Following the failure of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the opposition to reach a consensus on the name of a caretaker Prime Minister, the issue will now be sent to a parliamentary committee for deliberations, it emerged on Friday.

Following the cancellation of a meeting between Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and the opposition leader in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah on Thursday, the latter told reporters in his chamber on Friday that there would be no more meetings between the two leaders on the issue, Dawn news reported.

According to Shah, the PML-N had backed off from its earlier stance on the names for a caretaker Prime Minister.

"Initially, the PPP was willing to nominate retired judges for the caretaker post but the PML-N insisted that retired judges should not be nominated for the post, so we changed our mind and nominated Zaka Ashraf and Jalil Abbas Jilani," he said.

The ruling party, however, later changed its stance and insisted on the names of retired judges, said Shah.

The opposition leader said that he will be leaving for his hometown in the evening and will return on Monday, after which he will send the two proposed names to the National Assembly speaker.

He said he will also write a letter to the Prime Minister, apprising him about the Pakistan Peoples Party's reservations.

The term of the present government expires on May 31, after which the caretaker set-up will be put in place to hold elections which are expected to be held in July.

In an earlier meeting, Abbasi and Shah had agreed that they would not disclose the names of their respective nominees for the office of caretaker till the last moment in order to avoid "controversies" over the names.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has already warned that if the government and the opposition failed to reach an agreement on the name of a caretaker Prime Minister, a bipartisan committee of lawmakers will be created to resolve the matter. 

If that committee is also unsuccessful, the matter will be referred to the ECP, which will then pick a name of its own choosing.