By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s toothless opposition leader Raja Riaz on Tuesday ruled out Finance Minister Ishaq Dar as a potential caretaker prime minister and said there was no urgency for elections in the country.
Dar, a close ally of former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz supremo Nawaz Sharif, had been rumoured as a possible candidate to head an interim government that would oversee the next general election, due by November this year.
But the idea was rejected by both the ruling coalition Pakistan Peoples Party and the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Riaz, who belongs to PTI but has defected, said Dar’s appointment would delay the polls and undermine their credibility.
“If Ishaq Dar becomes the interim prime minister, the elections will not be held for two years,” Riaz told reporters. “No one will accept the validity of the polls under him.”
Riaz said he would propose three names for the caretaker prime minister by August 1 and consult with other opposition parties on the matter.
He said he preferred an economist to lead the interim government, which would take over after the National Assembly’s term expires on August 12 or earlier if it is dissolved.
Riaz also downplayed the importance of holding timely elections, saying the country’s problems and challenges were more pressing.
“Elections are not necessary in the country,” he said. “It does not matter if they are not held even for a decade.”
Riaz became the opposition leader in May 2022 after being nominated by National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf, a former prime minister from the PPP, which is allied with PML-N in the current coalition set-up.
He was among a group of PTI lawmakers who refused to resign from parliament in 2022 when PTI leader Imran Khan was ousted in a parliamentary vote.
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