The ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Saturday rejected both names proposed by opposition parties through the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for the key post of caretaker prime minister.
The names of Justice (r) Nasir Aslam Zahid and Awami Tehrik’s founder Rasul Bakhsh Palejo were forwarded by opposition parties for interim PM.
Talking to reporters, Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said the names proposed by the opposition were a joke.
“Both nominees proposed by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan are anti- PPP…we have concerns, if one of them is selected, he will not do justice with PPP,” Kaira said. Kaira said Asif Ali Zardari was falsely implicated in Justice Nizam Ahmed murder case, who was brother-in-law of Justice (r) Nasir Aslam Zahid.
Rejecting Palejo’s nomination, Karia said he was a PPP opponent and his son Latif Palejo was representing a party that had made an alliance against PPP in the upcoming elections. The information minister demanded the Election Commission of Pakistan to review the two nominees’ relationship with PPP before reaching a decision.
In response to a question, Kaira said the name of Abdul Hafeez Shaikh is still in the race for the slot of caretaker PM, adding that new names could still be proposed. Meanwhile, Opposition leader Chaudhary Nisar had already rejected government’s reservation over the proposed names.
According to the constitution, the leader of Opposition and the PM are bound to agree on one name for interim PM within three days following dissolution of the National Assembly, otherwise the proposed names- both from treasury and opposition- would be forwarded to a parliamentary committee for decision.
PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE: Meanwhile, the federal government has nominated Khurshid Shah, Shujaat Hussain, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour and Farooq Naik to represent it in the parliamentary committee which would discuss the names for interim prime minister if the government and opposition failed to evolve consensus on the issue.
