Justice Nasir may be opposition’s choice for interim PM

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Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. — Online/File Photo

LAHORE: Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Friday that a name for caretaker prime minister had been finalised after intra-party consultations.

During his media talk at Model Town he did not make the name public, but unsubstantiated reports are doing the rounds here that the PML-N, Jamaat-i-Islami, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf and JUI-F have agreed on the name of Justice (retd) Nasir Aslam Zahid.

Chaudhry Nisar said the PML-N would consult the opposition parties again for a consensus name if the government rejected the first one.

In reply to a question, he said the PTI would also be consulted on the formation of the caretaker set-up, adding contact could not be established with JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman because he was on a visit to Qatar.

He said the JUI-F had conveyed its willingness for entering into an electoral alliance with the PML-N and a wider coalition (against PPP) was in the offing in Sindh.

Referring to nine PPP MPAs’ decision to join the PML-N, Chaudhry Nisar said President Asif Zardari had stayed in Lahore for several days to `conquer’ Punjab but contrary to his expectation the PPP had started losing ground.

Asked if the PML-N would accept PML-Q leaders in the PML-N, particularly the chaudhrys of Gujrat, he said PML-N’s doors were shut on the elements that had damaged it during the Musharraf regime.

He criticised the government’s attitude to the Taliban’s talks offer.

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