Former leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Nisar Ali Khan on Friday said any decision taken by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in connection with the appointment of caretaker prime minister would be acceptable to the Pakistan Muslim league-Nawaz (PML-N).
Talking to reporters outside the Parliament House after meeting the members of the Parliamentary Committee, Nisar said, “The PML-N’s stance on PCO is still valid as we do not support any PCO judge,” adding that Justice (r) Nasir Aslam Zahid had never taken oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) and remained active against former president Pervez Musharraf.
When asked, the PML-N leader said Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl chief Fazlur Rehman had already said he would not be a part of any consultation for the caretaker prime minister, “so other than the JUI-F, all opposition parties were taken on board on the issue”.
The PML-N leader expressed hope that the Parliamentary Committee would soon reach some agreement on finalising the name for the caretaker prime minister, adding that in case it failed, the ECP would be the final authority on the issue.
Nisar said if the issue was referred to the ECP, it would not be anything out of the ordinary, as that was also a constitutional manner of solving the problem.
To another query, he said all political parties had agreed on evolving the system for the selection of the caretaker prime minister.
Criticising the Pakistan People’s Party, Nisar said the PML-N had consulted all opposition parties in the Centre prior to finalising the names. However, he said, the PPP in Sindh had finalised the names without consulting the opposition or the alliance of the 11 political parties in Sindh.
He said only an allied party in Sindh was consulted by the PPP, that too the one that held the position of governor in the province, adding that the PPP openly violated the 18th, 19th and 20th Amendments in the province.
“The Sindh governor even contacted Pir Pagara and offered him positions in the coming caretaker setup, which is a serious violation of the democratic norms and values,” Nisar said.
Nisar said the names proposed by the PPP for the slot of the caretaker prime minister had already been rejected by his party, adding that the PML-N had reservations on the names proposed by the PPP in the Parliamentary Committee.
Accusing Rasool Bukhsh Paleejo for being PPP’s pawn, Nisar said Paleejo visited the Presidency of and on, and had never played any kind of a political role, other than the fact that he was said to be a close aide of President Asif Ali Zardari.
He said PTI Chairman Imran Khan was in politics just for the sake of criticism, adding that if the government and the opposition reached a consensus on any issue, Imran would call it a deal and if both failed, he would then criticise the PML-N for that.