LAHORE/QUETTA: As the provincial government and the opposition both in Punjab and Balochistan have failed to reach a consensus on any name for the caretaker chief ministers despite several rounds of consultations, the matter has finally landed before the parliamentary committees, with slim chances of any agreement.

Both committees, which are supposed to meet on Wednesday, have three days to pick one of the four names suggested by the two sides in each province or else the Election Commission of Pakistan will have a final say on it.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz seems in no mood to finalise the name of Punjab’s caretaker CM as its former law minister Rana Sanaullah on Tuesday said: “We’ll prefer to refer the matter [of choosing an interim chief minister] to the ECP instead of wasting our time with the opposition [Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf] having childish behaviour.”

The PML-N leader said his party was not ready to trust the PTI which backtracked after reaching a consensus on the name of former bureaucrat Nasir Khosa though the latter had themselves proposed his name for the caretaker CM.

He said the PTI would have to agree on one of the two names suggested by the PML-N or let the ECP decide the matter.

The PML-N has suggested the names of retired Admiral Zakaullah and retired Justice Sair Ali while the PTI has given the names of political analysts Hasan Askari Rizvi and Ayaz Amir for caretaker chief minister of Punjab.

Under the law, speaker of the house forms a six-member committee with equal representation of the ruling and opposition parties if the leader of the house and leader of the opposition rem­ain unable to agree on any name for the caretaker set-up.

In Balochistan, a six-member parliamentary committee has three days to decide about the caretaker chief minister or else the matter will finally have to be referred to the ECP.

For this purpose, the parliamentary committee comprising Tahir Mehmood, Sardarzada Mir Sarfaraz Khan Domki and Amanullah Notezai from the government side and Dr Malik Baloch, Nawab Sanaullah Zehri and Agha Liaquat from the opposition side were supposed to meet on Wednesday (today).

However, the government announced late Tuesday evening that their representatives would boycott the meeting.

The names shortlisted during the talks between Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo and opposition leader Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal are Sardar Shau­kat Aziz Popal­zai, Allauddin Marri (both proposed by the government), Aslam Bhootani and Jahan­gir Ashraf Qazi (recommended by the opposition).

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2018