Shehbaz Sharif, Raja Riaz meet today to decide on Caretaker PM

ISLAMABAD: The consultative process for nomination of a Caretaker PM has entered in its final phase as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s meeting with Opposition Leader Raja Riaz is fixed to take place on Thursday (today), citing sources ARY News reported.

The much-anticipated meeting, which was scheduled to take place at 4:00 pm on Wednesday, was deferred.

“The Prime Minister’s Office has contacted Raja Riaz and the meeting between him and PM Shehbaz Sharif has been fixed at 2:30 pm today,” sources said.

President Alvi dissolved the National Assembly after the prime minister forwarded a summary to President Dr Arif Alvi for dissolution of the lower house of the Parliament.

Who will be Caretaker PM?

Who will be the Caretaker PM, who will lead the country to the upcoming election, is a question running rumor mills across the country. Whether the caretaker prime minister will be a bureaucrat or a politician, is likely to be decided in the upcoming meeting of PM Shehbaz Sharif and opposition leader Raja Riaz.

According to government sources, a bureaucrat has been frontrunner in the caretaker prime minister’s race.

The names of Ishaq Dar, Hafeez Sheikh and Justice Shakeel Baloch among others surfaced for the interim premier’s slot. The name of Hafeez Sheikh, a former finance minister of Pakistan also being taken for a key portfolio in the upcoming caretaker setup.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) yesterday pitched former foreign secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani’s name for the caretaker Prime Minister slot. According to sources, PPP had suggested Jalil Abbas Jilani’s name for the caretaker PM during a meeting between former president Asif Zardari and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.

Sources further said that Nawaz Sharif had no objection to Jilani’s name for the caretaker PM slot. Jilani is a cousin of PPP stalwart Yousaf Raza Gillani.

The prime minister and the opposition leader have to reach to a consensus for the top office of the interim set up within a span of three days. If they fail to reach a decision the matter will be decided by a parliamentary body within next three days, if the deadlock persists, the election commission will announce the name of caretaker prime minister in next two days.