Shehbaz Sharif writes to Raja Riaz for deliberations on caretaker PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday wrote a letter to Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Raja Riaz, inviting him for a meeting today for consultations on the appointment of the caretaker PM, ARY News reported.

The coalition government’s regime ended on Wednesday after President Arif Alvi dissolved the lower house of the Parliament, three days before the completion of its five-year tenure.

A statement issued by the Presidency just before midnight read, “President Arif Alvi has dissolved the National Assembly under Article 58(1) on the advice of the prime minister.”

In his letter to Riaz today, the premier said that the president has dissolved the National Assembly under Article 58(1) of the constitution and that he is ready to fulfill his constitutional responsibility for the appointment of the caretaker prime minister.

A process to appoint a caretaker prime minister will be conducted under Article 224-A of the Constitution.

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.