Remove ambiguities
There is no provision in the constitution regarding who will perform the constitutional responsibilities of the prime minister in case he is temporarily incapacitated. A day before Nawaz Sharif was to undergo open heart surgery he chaired back-to-back meetings of the National Economic Council (NEC) and the federal cabinet through video link from the Pakistan High Commission in London. These meetings have been convened to discuss the budget which is to be presented on June 3. Some of the documents with sensitive information have already been sent to the prime minister presumably to ensure that crucial information is not leaked out. Hopefully the arrangement would guarantee the necessary confidentiality.
It was a coincident that the prime minister urgently needed to go for a serious operation at a time when the federal budget was about to be presented before Parliament. The unusual arrangements to allow the prime minister to carry out his constitutional duties have, however, given birth to questions about their legality. The opposition happens to be divided over the issue. Leader of the Opposition Khursheed Shah maintains that there is no constitutional restriction on the presentation of the federal budget in the absence of the prime minister. Imran Khan, on the other hand, thinks that the formal approval of the budget via video link can only be given in a monarchy and not a democracy. He has failed to explain why developments in IT cannot be put to use by the prime minister when politicians and military spokesmen are making extensive use of Twitter to issue statements.
While the Rules of Business 1973 allow cabinet meetings in the absence of the prime minister, he is constitutionally bound to preside over the NEC and to sign the federal budget. A number of amendments were made in the constitution during the tenure of the previous government. One wonders why no effort was made to remove the lacuna around who is to perform the constitutional duties of the prime minister during his temporary absence.