LAHORE: Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Sunday perhaps ‘overlooked’ the rules while advising PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to first turn 35 and then vie for the slot of the prime minister.

To a question about Bilawal’s ‘prediction’ about becoming the prime minister in 2018 election, Mr Sadiq said: “I think the minimum age to become premier is 35 and in 2018, he will not be that old so he will have wait a little more.”

The speaker was talking to the media at the residence of five people who were killed in an armed robbery last month in Samanabad after condoling with their families.

On Saturday, Bilawal had said: “With the help of people, I will become the prime minister in 2018. The president will also be from the PPP.” Bilawal turned 28 last September.

According to the Constitution, in addition to other requirements, a person is eligible for the slot of prime minister if he/she is a member of the National Assembly and above 25 years of age.

Lawyer Salman Akram Raja told Dawn that the age limit for the prime minister post was above 25. “But if the National Assembly speaker is saying that the age limit for this slot is 35 then he must have known any ‘recent’ amendment (to the constitution) made in this regard,” he said.

Former attorney general and PPP leader Sardar Latif Khosa said Bilawal was eligible to become prime minister. “Under the Constitution, any person above the age of 25 can become a member of the National Assembly and any member of the NA can become prime minister,” he said.

PPP lawyer Haider Zaman Qureshi said Mr Sadiq should have taken advice from the law department before making this comment.

“The speaker has not only exposed his ability to comprehend law but also put a question mark over the ruling he had given in the past over different issues.”

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2016