PM Abbasi, Shah to meet in last-ditch effort to finalise caretaker premier

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah are to meet today in a last-ditch effort to finalise the caretaker premier, Geo News reported.

During their most recent meeting on Tuesday, Abbasi and Shah failed to reach consensus on the name for the position of caretaker prime minister. The opposition leader told media later that another meeting would be held after a day or two, where both the parties would try their best to agree upon a name for the post.

The government and the opposition are making efforts to use a parliamentary solution to finalise the caretaker prime minister, Shah told reporters at the occasion.

If today’s meeting fails to produce any consensus, the matter is likely to be taken up by a parliamentary committee.

According to sources, the government has suggested names of former chief justice of Pakistan Justice (retd) Nasir-ul-Mulk and Justice (retd) Tassaduq Hussain Jillani – also a former chief justice.

The Pakistan Peoples Party, on the other hand, has finalised the names of Zaka Ashraf and Jalil Abbas Jilani for the position.

Sources informed Geo News earlier that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif does not want a retired judge or bureaucrat to be appointed as the caretaker premier, and that Nawaz’s reluctance was one of the reasons no consensus could be reached during Tuesday's meeting between PM Abbasi and Shah. 

The current government is expected to conclude its five-year term on May 31, after which the caretaker government will take over to hold the general elections, which are expected to be held in the last week of July or the first week of August.

The caretaker prime minister will lead the interim set-up and attend to day-to-day matters of governance.