- Will the two parties display maturity?
A fourth meeting on Tuesday and still no consensus between Khaqan Abbasi and Khursheed Shah on naming the caretaker prime minister. There could be valid reasons for the delay. A number of names are under discussion and it requires time to discuss each one before reaching a decision. Those under consideration include businessmen, retired judges, civil servants and diplomats. There is a need to ensure that the nomination does not arouse public controversy. The nominee has to be a person of integrity who is not amenable to political pressure. What is more he/she has to be a competent administrator with sufficient energy. It might have even been considered advisable to delay the announcement as long as possible to discourage unnecessary media controversy. Hopefully the prime minister and the leader of the opposition will reach a consensus within three days of the dissolution of the National Assembly. In case they fail to do so, the choice will be made by a parliamentary committee appointed by the NA Speaker. Unelected arbitrators will step in if the committee too cannot reach a consensus.
Keeping in view what has happened several times in the past the delay in reaching a consensus could have been the outcome of an inability on the part of the two leaders to resolve their differences. In case the issue cannot be decided within the Parliament, it would be referred to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) which will nominate the caretaker prime minister. This would be yet another example of the politicians failing to settle issues through mutual consultation and calling upon an unelected institution to arbitrate.
The next meeting between Prime Minister Khaqan Abbasi and opposition leader Khurshid Shah will take place later this week. Shah has reiterated the commitment to decide the matter within the Parliament. One expects the politicians to rise above narrow party considerations and agree on a name that is acceptable to all major political parties. Failure to do so will bring a bad name to the political parties.
