ISLAMABAD: What appears to be a violation of the election laws, Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, Sunday, left for a three-day visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as part of his engagements, which, the caretaker government claims, will provide “an opportunity to advance bilateral ties in all spheres including political, economic, trade, investment, cultural, defence and people-to- people relations.”
Section 230(2) (d) of the Elections Act 2017 provides that a caretaker government shall not enter into major international negotiation with any foreign country or international agency or sign or ratify any international binding instrument except in an exceptional case.
On the other hand, an official statement from Foreign Office said, the caretaker PM’s visit will include signing of memorandums of understanding between Pakistan and the UAE in a range of areas including investment cooperation in the sectors of energy, port operations projects, waste water treatment, food security, logistics, mining, aviation, and banking and financial services.
‘UAE investors are keen to start joint ventures with Pakistani investors’
The caretaker PM will meet UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed during his visit, the FO statement said.
Under the existing electoral laws, the mandate of a caretaker government is restricted to only looking after the day-to-day affairs of the country.
Section 230(1) of the Elections Act 2017 provides that a caretaker government shall— (a) perform its functions to attend to day-to-day matters which are necessary to run the affairs of the government; (b) assist the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold elections in accordance with law; (c) restrict itself to activities that are of routine, non-controversial and urgent, in the public interest and reversible by the future government elected after the elections; and (d) be impartial to every person and political party.
The Sections 230(2)(a) and (b) of the same law respectively provide that a caretaker government shall not – (a) take major policy decisions except on urgent matters; and (b) take any decision or make a policy that may have effect or pre-empt the exercise of authority by the future elected government.
One of the senior ECP officials, when approached, attempted to defend the caretaker PM’s visit to the UAE. The ECP, according to the official, issued a notification in August, this year, to allow the caretaker governments to “take actions or decisions regarding existing bilateral or multilateral agreements or the projects already initiated under the Public Private Partnership Authority Act 2017 the Inter-Governmental Commercial Transactions Act 2022 and the Privatisation Commission Ordinance 2000, under intimation to the ECP.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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