National Assembly Opposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Tuesday that the PML-N had shortlisted nine names for caretaker prime minister.
Addressing a press conference, Nisar said that no retired general or bureaucrat had been included in the list. He said that retired judges and senior politicians were among those shortlisted, adding that the list does not include anyone from Punjab. He said the list would be shared with the opposition parties. He said that he had discussed in detail with PML-N President Nawaz Sharif proposals for caretaker prime minister. The opposition leader said that the PML-N was devoting its entire attention on free and fair elections. He alleged that the government had already started pre-poll rigging, alleging that Rs 2 to 4 billion had been channeled for the purpose, while Rs 4 billion more would be taken from the national exchequer to influence polls.
He said the Election Commission of Pakistan should take notice of the “pre-poll rigging”. Nisar rejected the parliamentary commission for new provinces, saying the government and its allies were not sincere to form new provinces but were doing politics on this issue. He said that by raising the slogan of new provinces, the government could not befool the people.
On the contrary, he said, the PML-N was serious for new provinces not only in Southern Punjab but also in Hazara. He said that since his party had boycotted the parliamentary commission, division of Punjab would now be decided by Farhatullah Babar, Haji Adeel and Faroooq Sattar. He said that he had no contact with Khursheed Shah for the last two months. Nisar said that formation of new provinces was the responsibility of the assemblies and the government had no role to play in it. He also alleged that President Asif Ali Zardari had bought off anchors from television channels, and had started the process of rigging elections.
In reply to a question, Nisar said that had the government been serious in writing the letter to Swiss officials, it would have done it earlier, and not put the country in crisis. The opposition leader said the PML-N would issue a “white paper” on Imran Khan’s assets. “It was the PML-N which forced Imran Khan to declare his assets, and now that the cat is out of the bag, the PTI chief should be ready to answer more questions,” Nisar said. He said that Imran Khan will have to tell the nation how he made these assets. He alleged that Imran Khan did not mention the declared assets while filing his tax returns in the past eight years.
PML-N shortlists nine names for caretaker PM
