LAHORE: Opposition parties met here on Wednesday under opposition leader Mian Mahmoodur Rashid and considered five names for caretaker chief minister with optimism to reach consensus by coming Monday.

According to the office of the opposition leader, the five names which came under discussion included Tariq Khosa (a retired police officer), Shahid Kardar (a well known economist and banker), Safdar Mahmood (a retired bureaucrat), Khizar Hayat Gondal (a retired bureaucrat) and Justice (retired) Malik Allah Nawaz.

The meeting also asked the Punjab government to present budget for four months only as it “does not have mandate for the entire year”.

Those who participated in the meeting included members of the Punjab Assembly from the PML-Q, the PTI and Jamaat-e-Islami. The names would now be presented to central leadership of the parties concerned.

The participants also noted that the Punjab government was not meeting constitutional obligation with regard to finalizing the name for the caretaker set-up. However, all the opposition parties hoped to conclude the consultative process by Monday and send the names to the Punjab government for further discussion.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2018