PESHAWAR: The government and the opposition in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have begun consultation to choose the suitable person for the office of the caretaker chief minister in the province for the next elections.

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and opposition leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman, who belongs to the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, held the first round of consultation on the caretaker setup in Islamabad on Monday.

Speaker Asad Qaisar was also present in the meeting.

After the meeting, Maulana Rehman consulted the parliamentary leaders of other opposition parties here on Tuesday and discussed the caretaker setup.

He told Dawn that the consultation among opposition parties would continue and that he had asked parliamentary leaders to recommend one name for the office of the interim chief minister.

The opposition leader said after the opposition parties developed consensus, he would present the names for the caretaker setup to the chief minister.

“I am sure that the consultation will be completed in three rounds and the government and the opposition will find a suitable person for the caretaker CM’s post,” he said.

The opposition in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly comprises the JUI-F, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Pakistan Peoples Party, Qaumi Watan Party and Awami National Party. The Jamaat-i-Islami is a coalition partner of the ruling PTI.

REQUISITION FOR PA: The opposition parties on Tuesday filed a requisition with the assembly secretariat to call a session of the house.

The requisition carries the signatures of 32 opposition MPAs.

PML-N parliamentary leader Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha said the three disgruntled PTI MPAs, who were recently given show cause notices by the leadership on the charge of selling votes in the Senate elections, had also signed the requisition.

Under the rule, the speaker will convene the assembly session in the next 14 days.

Mr Nalotha said the requisition carried a list of 22 points, including corruption in various development projects, including Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit project.

The PTI’s 12 disgruntled MPAs recently announced to give a tough time to the government in the assembly.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2018