ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif seems to have his work cut out for him as the question of who will be his caretaker successor dominates discussions with all eight allies in the ruling coalition.

With only five days left until the date given by the PM for the dissolution of the National Assembly, the ruling PDM coalition has upped the ante on consultations for the appointment of a “mutually agreed” name for caretaker PM.

On Friday, PM Shehbaz chaired a virtual meeting of his allies on a three-point agenda — the dissolution of national and provincial assemblies, selection of caretaker PM and polls on the basis of the 2023 census.

While some allied parties sought time to submit names for caretaker PM, they agreed to dissolve the assemblies on Aug 9.

PM Shehbaz to first consult Nawaz, then share names with opposition leader

The meeting was attended by PPP Chairman and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, JUI-F emir Maulana Fazlur Rehman, MQM-P Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Balochistan Awami Party leader Khalid Magsi and MNAs Mohsin Dawar and Aslam Bhootani.

The prime minister will have a tough task on his hands as all allies submit names of their favoured candidates to be posted at the helm for 90 days.

PML-N’s main ally, the PPP, has already given three names to the PM, according to a senior PPP leader who did not want to be named.

This indicated that “all has been agreed” between the main coalition partners — PPP and PML-N — on who will be the caretaker PM but they were intentionally being mum about it.

However, MQM-P, JUI-F and BNP were yet to present their names, sources told Dawn.

Mr Dawar and Mr Bhootani — the two independent lawmakers part of the ruling coalition — have also given two and one names, respectively.

It is expected that all coalition parties will submit their names for the caretaker PM by today (Saturday) and then PM Shehbaz will share them with his elder brother and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif in London.

According to sources, the elder Sharif will finalise three names which the PM will share with Raja Riaz Ahmed, the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly. A source said Mr Ahmed is almost certainly expected to agree over one of the three names presented by PM Sharif.

After attending the National Assembly session on Friday, the opposition leader told reporters he was expecting to meet the prime minister for consultation on Aug 8, a day before the dissolution of assemblies.

The PPP supremo, Asif Ali Zardari, is also arriving in Islamabad today (Saturday) to chair a party meeting in which names of PPP’s candidates for the caretaker prime minister will be unveiled.

Earlier, PPP leader Qamar Zaman Kaira called on the prime minister and discussed the caretaker setup. On behalf of his party, he had already rejected a proposal to appoint any technocrat and anyone who is presently active in politics.

Litany of candidates

Already, several possible names for caretaker PM are circulating in the media. These names include politicians and technocrats.

Some of the names included Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, former prime minister and estranged PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, ex-finance minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, ex-principal secretary to PM Fawad Hassan Fawad, former CJP Tassaduq Hussain Jilani, ex- permanent representative to the UN Abdullah Hussain Haroon, Pir of Pagaro Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi and former Punjab governor and PPP’s Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood, etc.

Although Mr Abbasi has said he was unaware of his name being in contention for the caretaker PM. Talking to reporters outside the parliament house on Friday, he said the caretaker prime minister should be an expert on ’political economy“.

The federal government, through legislation, rushed through the parliament, has already expanded the ambit of the caretaker government to take decisions that go beyond the day-to-day affairs.

Under the new law, the caretaker setup can take decisions on existing bilateral or multilateral agreements or projects already initiated under the Public Private Partnership Authority Act, 2017 (VIII of 2017), the Inter-Governmental Commercial Transactions Act, 2022 (XXX of 2022) and the Privatization Commission Ordinance, 2000 (LII of 2000)“.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2023