Pakistan's coalition parties discuss former PM Abbasi an independent lawmaker for the post of caretaker PM

Islamabad, Aug 4 (PTI) Former Pakistan prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and independent lawmaker from Balochistan Aslam Bhootani's names were doing rounds as coalition partners on Friday discussed the appointment of the caretaker prime minister.
     Former finance minister Hafeez Sheikh and Fawad Hassan Fawad, former principal secretary to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, were also among those names discussed at the Zoom meeting held by members of the allies parties in the ruling coalition led by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Geo News quoted a source as saying.
     Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto, and other senior leaders attended the meeting.
     The source, however, added the coalition parties have decided to continue further consultations and the meetings, also attended by Balochistan National Party Chairman Akhtar Mengal, Jamhoori Wattan Party (JWP) leader Shahzain Bugti, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM) leader Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Bhootani, and National Democratic Movement (NDM) Chairman Mohsin Dawar, will be held again.
     The PPP, which is one of the major allies in the ruling coalition, has disagreed with the idea of selecting a caretaker prime minister from any political party.
     In a statement, the PPP said the party had finalised five names for the post of caretaker prime minister. However, it added that any other name could also be considered for the coveted slot.
     Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday told the coalition partners that he would recommend the dissolution of the National Assembly on August 9, three days before the end of its term and setting the stage for general elections in the cash-strapped country.
     Sharif at a dinner reception hosted in honour of the ruling allies at the Prime Minister's House on Thursday said the National Assembly or the lower house of Parliament would stand dissolved as soon as President Arif Alvi signs the notification he plans to send to him.
     Sharif, also President of the PML-N, at the reception apprised the participants that the PML-N had finalised consultations within the party, and the premier would begin a final round of discussions with allies on the caretaker set-up on Friday.
     Sharif had last week ruled out the possibility of the appointment of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar as the caretaker prime minister, saying a "neutral person" will be selected to lead the interim government next month to make upcoming general elections transparent.
     A bill to empower the caretaker set-up to initiate policy decisions was recently passed by Pakistan's Parliament.
     The prime minister during the reception said the process of appointing the interim premier was expected to take at least three days.
     Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will be the final authority to pick the caretaker prime minister if the parliamentary committee responsible for the selection of the interim premier fails to select a caretaker PM.
     On the caretaker setup, Prime Minister Sharif said the ruling coalition would try to bring in a person acceptable to all stakeholders and added that his government would go home in the coming days.
     At the same time, he thanked all the parliamentarians for reposing trust in him and lauded National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani on how he ran the house.
     Shehbaz Sharif became the prime minister in April last year after the National Assembly passed a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan and ousted the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party from the top post. Khan's PTI won the last general election in 2018.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)