By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ruling and opposition parties have shortlisted five names for the caretaker prime minister, who will oversee the next general election, a minister said on Friday.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said all the candidates are politicians.
“The PPP and PMLN together have finalized four to five names, which will be discussed with other parties,” Asif told reporters in Islamabad, referring to the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.
He said a name would be finalized within a week and the leadership of allied parties would make the final decision.
Asif denied that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, a close ally of deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, is a contender for the caretaker role.
He said Dar had never expressed such intentions at any forum and he had not proposed his name either.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah also dismissed rumors that Dar is a possible candidate for the interim prime minister.
“Ishaq Dar’s name has not been presented by anyone, not the PMLN, nor by any leader of the PMLN. This can be a rumor, leaked as news through sources,” Sanaullah said.
He said talks were underway about whether a bureaucrat or a politician should be appointed to the post.
“This proposal is under discussion, however, that in the caretaker setup, why can’t it be anyone other than a technocrat, a politician instead of a former bureaucrat or judge?” Sanaullah said in a TV program.
“There is no consensus on this yet, but if there is consensus that it can be a politician, then definitely, it could be Ishaq Dar or another politician like him from another party.”
But whoever was picked as caretaker PM, Sanaullah said, had to be “someone who has a good reputation, who has credibility, on which there is a basic consensus.”
Pakistan media has widely speculated in recent weeks that Dar could be a top candidate to lead the incoming caretaker government.
“There is no deadlock on this,” Sanaullah said about when the assembly would be dissolved, saying it would happen around 48 hours before the term expired.
The caretaker prime minister will head a temporary government that will run the country until a new parliament is elected. The current government’s term ends in August and elections are due by November.
The current legislature is set to complete its five-year term on August 12, paving the way for the next general election in October. Under the constitution, the caretaker PM is to be appointed by the president in consultation with the PM and leader of the opposition in the outgoing National Assembly. The law also stipulates that general elections be held less than 60 days after the dissolution of the National Assembly if it is dissolved when its term expires.
If it is dissolved earlier, the election shall be held within 90 days of dissolution.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Senator Kamran Murtaza said the final decision on picking the caretaker prime minister would be made by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif after consulting JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman in a day or two.
He said every member party of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance of opposition parties, had the right to put up its recommendations, but the final decision would be taken by the leadership of the alliance.
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