ISLAMABAD: Outgoing Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Raja Riaz has said that Senator Anwarul Haq Kakar has been chosen as the caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan. He made the announcement during a media talk outside the PM’s House. On the other hand, a statement issued by the PM house also confirmed the nomination of Senator Kakar.
According to a statement issued by Pakistan’s PM media office, consensus over the name of Kakar was reached during a meeting between the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Raja Riaz. President Dr Arif Alvi has approved the summary to appoint Kakar as interim PM. Local media reported that earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had expressed confidence that the name of the interim Prime Minister would be finalized by Saturday.
Earlier, Pakistan’s outgoing Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Raja Riaz, reached to Prime Minister’s House and held the second round of talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to finalize the name of caretaker Prime Minister, local media reported on Saturday.
On Friday, the coalition parties under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government reached a consensus to nominate the caretaker Prime Minister from a smaller province of Pakistan.
Pakistan Politics: Talks Underway to Finalize Name of Caretaker Prime Minister
This agreement was reached during a meeting convened by Shehbaz Sharif at the Prime Minister’s House, attended by former President Asif Ali Zardari, Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Maulana Fazlur Rehman of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui of MQM-Pakistan, and representatives from other alliance parties.
Expressing their confidence in Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the coalition partners delegated the decision of selecting the caretaker prime minister to him.
In the meeting, it was collectively decided that the caretaker prime minister would be chosen from a smaller province, possibly from Balochistan or Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Taking a deep dig at President Arif Alvi for asking name for the caretaker prime minister by Saturday, Shehbaz Sharif asked why President Alvi was in a hurry over the caretaker set-up. He added that the president should have consulted the Constitution before writing to him. He said the Constitution allowed him eight days to name a caretaker prime minister. If consensus cannot be reached on a single candidate, Sharif clarified that the matter would be referred to a parliamentary committee, empowered to decide within three days. If the committee fails to reach an agreement, the Election Commission would take responsibility and arrive at a final verdict within two days.
