- PM Shehbaz Sharif as PML-N President formed a 5-member committee.
- The panel has been tasked with holding consultations with the parties in the current government.
- Members of the ruling coalition are pushing for a caretaker prime minister of their choice.
Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has constituted a five-member Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) committee to hold consultations on the selection of a caretaker prime minister and dissolution of the National Assembly. news Reported on Saturday.
Though the provincial assemblies of Sindh and Balochistan will be dissolved next month along with the National Assembly, the panel has no members from outside Punjab.
The committee, comprising federal ministers Ishaq Dar, Ahsan Iqbal, Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Khawaja Muhammad Asif, has been tasked with holding consultations with political parties and groups that constitute the current government.
With the formation of the committee, the consultation process has gathered full momentum for the immediate future course of administration in the country.
PML-N sources said the committee will report to PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif about the relevant developments and seek his guidance on sensitive matters besides party president, PM Shehbaz Sharif.
The committee will start its work immediately. This action is believed to have been taken to reduce the pressure on the prime minister on the question of dissolution of the legislatures and appointment of a caretaker prime minister.
PM Shahbaz has also advised other parties to form such committees for wider consultations.
Sources indicated that one of the major parties in the ruling coalition is pushing for a caretaker PM of its choice.
According to constitutional provisions, the Prime Minister as the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly were to initiate the consultations. Their failure may refer the matter to a parliamentary committee, to be constituted by the NA Speaker.
Meanwhile, if the parliamentary committee also fails to select a caretaker prime minister, the Election Commission of Pakistan will be the final authority to choose a caretaker prime minister.
Interestingly, political parties and groups outside Parliament have not been taken on board by the government for any such idea. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) vice-chairman leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi had urged in the past that his party should also be included claiming to be a major stakeholder for the upcoming elections and relevant arrangements, but the government ignored his plea.
Interestingly, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Raja Riaz Ahmed, had planned a meeting with the Prime Minister on August 1 for preliminary consultations on the selection of a caretaker PM.
He left for Faisalabad from Islamabad on Friday and will return on Monday and he will also consult his colleagues in the lower house to form a committee for the purpose.
Sources said Riaz was keen to speak to former Speaker National Assembly Dr Fahmida Mirza for consultations, but she was not available for the purpose.
