ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif established a five-member committee within PML-N to consult on selecting a caretaker premier and dissolving the National Assembly.
Members of the committee including federal ministers Ishaq Dar, Ahsan Iqbal, Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, and Khawaja Muhammad Asif will engage with political parties in the current government.
The committee will report to PML-N’s Nawaz Sharif, seeking his guidance on sensitive matters, alongside party president PM Shehbaz Sharif. Immediate action was taken to ease pressure on the premier about assembly dissolution and caretaker PM appointment.
PM Shehbaz advised other parties to form similar committees for extensive consultations.
Constitutionally, the PM and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly were to initiate consultations. Failure could refer the matter to a parliamentary committee, appointed by the NA speaker.
If the parliamentary committee fails too, the Election Commission of Pakistan will select the caretaker PM.
The government has intriguingly excluded political parties and groups outside the parliament from the decision-making process. PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi recently urged inclusion, asserting their significance as a major stakeholder. However, no one paid attention to his request.
Curiously, the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Raja Riaz Ahmad, had scheduled an initial consultation meeting with the premier on August 1 to select the caretaker PM.
He departed Islamabad for Faisalabad on Friday and will return on Monday. Additionally, he plans to consult his colleagues in the lower house to form a committee.
Sources mention Riaz’s eagerness to discuss with the former speaker of the National Assembly, Dr. Fahmida Mirza. However, she was unavailable for that purpose.
