The first session of parliamentary committee formed to elect caretaker chief minister of Punjab ended inconclusively on Sunday. Unlike in KPK, Balochistan and Sindh, Punjab has failed to resolve the issue of appointment of a caretaker chief minister and the matter was referred to the parliamentary committee.
The parliamentary committee comprised PML-N’s Rana Sanaullah, Mujtaba Shujaur Rahman and Iqbal Chanar, while Shaukat Basra, Chaudhry Zaheer and Zulfiquar Gondal are the opposition’s members. The meeting of this six-member parliamentary committee was held at the Punjab Assembly on Sunday morning. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Sanaullah said the meeting discussed the rules of procedure, adding that the Punjab law secretary and advocate general had been called to attend today’s (Monday) meeting to guide the committee whether any change could be brought to the referred list of names. The proposed candidates are Justice (r) Amir Raza and Khwaja Azhar from the PML-N side and Justice (r) Zahid Hussain and Najam Sethi by the opposition.
Sanaullah said the committee was striving hard to achieve consensus on one of the four proposed names, adding that committee would consider two names in its Monday meeting. To a question, he said no objection had so far been raised against Najam Sethi as the caretaker chief minister of Punjab. To another question, he said they accepted the nominated Caretaker Prime Minister Justice (r) Mir Hazar Khan Khoso as decided by the Election Commission of Pakistan, adding, “We hope that Khoso will come up to the expectations of the people and hold free and fair elections.”
PPP’s Basra said the committee has full authority and some legal points were discussed to finalise the rules of procedure. Constitutionally, the parliamentary committee has to arrive at a consensus decision relating to the selection of caretaker CM within three days, failing which the matter would be referred to the provincial Election Commission for a final verdict. PML-Q’s Chaudhry Zaheeruddin said they had participated in the committee meeting with all sincerity and “I want all politicians to take important decisions on their own to remove the general perception that we are unable to decide about any matter”.
