Govt postpones all important decisions until after presidential election

The PML-N government has postponed all important decisions until after the presidential election, sources told Pakistan Today.

It is learnt that all new appointments would be made after the presidential elections and once the PML-N’s nominee assumes the office of president.

“Whether it is the appointment of a new NAB chairman or governors in Punjab and elsewhere in the country, decisions will be made after September 8,” a PML-N leader said.

The most important decision to be made by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his core team is the appointment of NAB chairman. Per the constitution, the government is required to engage the opposition in meaningful consultations over the appointment. Even the Supreme Court made this meaningful consultation binding on the government when it overturned the appointment of Fasih Bokhari on a petition filed by Nisar Ali Khan, the then opposition leader.

So the government might get a taste of its own medicine when it comes to the appointment of the “NAB chairman meaningful consultation”.

Now if the government fails to reach an understanding on this count what option does it have. Some say the president would assume an added importance then with power to pick one of the names presented to him by the government, hence, a greater urgency to elect a new president.

Politicians say one should now hope that issue of the NAB chairman would drag on for sometime until the new man enters the Presidency.

Interestingly, the focus in the party has shifted to the presidential elections from everything else.

Even those earlier vying for the party top leader’s blessings to become governors now all of sudden feel as if they are strong candidates for the office of president.

Whether it is Zafar Iqbal Jaghra, or Mehtab Abbasi from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or Ghous Ali Shah from Sindh, all are in the race to become president.

Still Satrtaj Aziz, again from KP, is a hot favourite.

Assurance from the party that the new president will be from a smaller province has further encouraged these party leaders.

However, the party’s grandees told the Sharifs to pick someone really close to them. Some even advised Nawaz to go for some one from within the family.