ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah are meeting on Friday (today) to decide the name of the caretaker prime minister who will be in office until the general elections in July.

According to a source in the government, during the meeting — which will take place in the Parliament House — both leaders will discuss the names of their nominees which have been kept secret so far based on mutual understanding.

If they make any decision on Friday, the two leaders will meet again to finalise the matter.

However, if the prime minister and the opposition leader fail to reach a consensus, they will have to announce three names each from the government and the opposition side which will be referred to a parliamentary committee to be formed by National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.

Given that the committee fails to finalise the name of caretaker prime minister as well, the nominees list will be referred to the Election Commission of Pakistan which will then have a prerogative to make the decision.

Both leaders have already met to discuss the issue several times in the recent past. Their last meeting was held on May 7 where it was decided that they would keep their discussions under wraps for as long as possible to avoid unnecessary debate on the issue in the media. They had also agreed to not disclose the names of their respective nominees for the office till the last moment in order to avoid “controversies”.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, however, had last month leaked the names of its candidates for the offices of caretaker prime minister and chief ministers in three provinces to the media. Its nominees for the caretaker prime minister were: former chief justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, businessman Abdur Razzaq Dawood and economist Dr Ishrat Hussain.

The term of the present government expires on May 31 after which the caretaker government will be set up to hold elections which are expected to be held in July or August.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2018