ISLAMABAD: The PML-N linked on Monday early dissolution of the Punjab Assembly with a consensus on caretakers, particularly in Sindh and Balochistan.

“The Punjab Assembly will not be dissolved on March 16 if the government continues to play tricks in Sindh and Balochistan,” declared Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.

Talking to reporters outside the Parliament House, he said the PML-N wanted that all assemblies be dissolved simultaneously, but “if someone tries to be clever, then we also have an answer”.

“The Punjab Assembly will be dissolved on March 16 only if a consensus on the caretaker set-ups (in all provinces) is reached before time,” he said in categorical terms, adding that otherwise the Punjab Assembly would complete its constitutional term ending next month.

Chaudhry Nisar, who had announced his party’s three nominees for the office of caretaker prime minister last week, said that he would formally suggest these names to Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf through a letter to be sent on Tuesday.

The PML-N has proposed the names of Justice (retd) Nasir Aslam Zahid, Justice (retd) Shakirullah Jan and Sindhi nationalist leader Rasool Bakhsh Palijo for the post of caretaker prime minister.

Chaudhry Nisar said the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly with the expiry of the National Assembly’s term on March 15 was “conditional” to the setting-up of caretaker regimes in all the provinces with a consensus among all political parties — not only between the PPP and the PML-N.

He claimed that his party had even consulted the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf on the issue of caretaker set-up not only at the Centre but also in Punjab.

In a reference to a recent decision of the MQM to sit on opposition benches, apparently to become a stakeholder in the appointment of the caretaker set-up, the PML-N leader said his party wouldn’t remain silent if the PPP and the Muttahida “strike a deal fraudulently in Sindh”.

Chaudhry Nisar criticised Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira for terming his party’s nominees “a joke”.