Parliamentary body to appoint caretaker PM: Qaiser seeks four names each from Imran, Shehbaz

ISLAMABAD: Outgoing National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser Wednesday sought four names each from interim Prime Minister Imran Khan and former opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif to constitute a parliamentary committee that would be tasked to appoint a caretaker prime minister.

The speaker National Assembly wrote letters separately to the Prime Minister and the Leader of Opposition of the outgoing National Assembly under the powers conferred to him under Article 224 (A) 1 of the Constitution of Pakistan.

According to the letter, “224 A(1), in case the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing National Assembly do not agree on any person to be appointed as the care-taker prime minister, with three days of the dissolution of the National Assembly, they shall forward two nominees each to a Committee to be immediately constituted by the Speaker of the National Assembly, comprising eight members of the outgoing National Assembly, or the Senate, or both, having equal representation from the treasury and the opposition, to be nominated by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition respectively .” The letter further described as “It is, therefore, requested to kindly nominate four members each from the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader” for constituting a Parliamentary Committee for selecting name for appointment of care taker prime minister.

Meanwhile, Shehbaz said the process initiated by the Speaker of appointing the caretaker Prime Minister was to defeat the process of law and Constitution without waiting for decision in suo motu case and petitions filed by combined opposition parties in the apex court.

He said that the start of the process to appoint caretaker prime minister was not acceptable as it violated the law and the Constitution.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022