Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif, Opposition leader Raja Riaz to finalise name of caretaker premier today

Pakistans outgoing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Opposition leader Raja Riaz are racing against time to finalise the name of the caretaker premier to oversee general elections later this year after the president gave them an ultimatum to find a suitable person for the appointment by August 12Sharif and Riaz began rounds of meetings to pick a caretaker prime minister following the dissolution of the National Assembly on August 9Sharif told journalists in Islamabad on Friday that he and Opposition leader Raja Riaz would finalise the name by Saturday and the former coalition parties would also be taken on board for political consultationsCoalition partners will be taken into confidence over the matter before taking a final decision he saidSharif said that he was expected to meet Raja Riaz on Friday but was unable to do so due to some of his commitmentsAt the same time he said that they would meet again on SaturdayIn a letter to both Prime Minister Sharif and Riaz President Arif Alvi informed them that under Article 224A they are supposed to propose a name for interim prime minister within three days of the dissolution of the National AssemblyAs provided in Article 224 1A of the Constitution of Pakistan the Prime Minister and leader of the Opposition in the outgoing National Assembly may propose a suitable person for the appointment of caretaker Prime Minister not later than August 12 said President Alvi in the letterReacting to the presidents letter Sharif said that he was disappointed to receive itSharif said the Constitution provided eight days for the appointment of the caretaker premier after the dissolution of the National Assembly NA the lower house of ParliamentAccording to the Constitution the premier and the outgoing opposition leader in the NA have three days to decide the name of the interim prime ministerIn case the two fail to agree on a name the matter would be referred to a parliamentary committee If the committee fails to make any decision then the Election Commission of Pakistan ECP will have two days to choose the caretaker prime minister from the list of names shared with the commissionSharif also organised a dinner on Friday for his coalition partners and used the occasion for consultation on the issue of the caretaker prime ministerAt the dinner all outgoing ruling parties gave full authority to him to choose a name for the caretaker premier slotProminent attendees at the dinner were Pakistan Peoples Party PPP Chairman Bilawal BhuttoZardari Pakistan Democratic Movement chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Akhtar Mengal of Balochistan National PartyIshaq Dar Khawaja Asif Marriyum Aurangzeb and Shahzain Bugti were also present during the dinnerA source in the Prime Ministers Office said BhuttoZardari had conveyed to Sharif that his party would accept the premiers nominee for the caretaker slotSharif and Riaz held the first meeting on Thursday a day after the premature dissolution of the National AssemblyThe Pakistan Peoples Party has proposed the names of former diplomat Jalil Abbas Jilani and former chief justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jilani while Muttahida Qaumi MovementPakistan MQMP put forward the name of Sindh Governor Kamran TessoriThe Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz PMLN has kept its cards close to the chest keeping everyone guessing about its candidateOne of the reasons for the delay in deciding the name of the head of the interim setup is believed to be the PMLNs desire to see its own man in office the Dawn newspaper reportedSome in political circles believe that Prime Minister Sharif wants to stay in office till August 14 so he could attend the flaghoisting ceremony on Independence Day after which a caretaker premier will take an oathA senior leader of the PMLN told the newspaper that Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani was one of the strongest candidatesThe Senate chairman can be the dark horse he said while referring to Defence Minister Khawaja Asif who had first used the term dark horseOther possible contenders are former finance ministers Hafeez Sheikh and Ishaq Dar former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi exprincipal secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad and exjustice Tassaduq JilaniThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever