Governor asks Punjab speaker to resolve deadlock over caretaker CM
Pakistan
Governor asks Punjab speaker to resolve deadlock over caretaker CM
LAHORE – Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman has asked the Speaker Sibtain Khan to form a parliamentary committee that will finalise a name for the caretaker chief minister as the government alliance and opposition could not reach an agreement.
Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi recommended the names of serving bureaucrat, Ahmed Nawaz Sakhera, ex-federal health minister Naseer Ahmed Khan, and a retired civil servant, Nasir Saeed Khosa for the caretaker CM position after the provincial assembly was dissolved.
However, the joint opposition named media mogul Mohsin Naqvi and former bureaucrat Ahad Raza Cheem for the post.
The both sides did not reach a consensus to select a person to head the interim setup within stipulated time period. Therefore, the governor has written a letter to the speaker asking him to forma a parliamentary committee to finalise a name within three days.
“Consequent to the fact that the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Provincial Assembly of the Punjab have not agreed on any person to be appointed as the care-taker Chef Minister within the stipulated time-frame in terms of Article 224(M) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. You are hereby required to fulfin your obligation in the manner prescribed in Article 224A(2) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” the governor’s letter read.
The government alliance has recommended the names of Raja Basharat and Hashim Jawan Bakh and Mian Aslam Iqbal for the committee while the opposition is yet to announce the names.
If the parliamentary committee fails to pick a name for the interim CM post, both sides will send the names of their nominees to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The electoral body will announce the name within two days.
