National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on Wednesday sought four names each from Prime Minister Imran Khan and Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif to constitute a parliamentary committee that would be tasked to appoint a caretaker prime minister.
The speaker wrote the letter under the powers conferred to him under Article 224 (A) 1 of the Constitution.
Meanwhile, Shehbaz said the process initiated by the speaker of appointing the caretaker PM was to defeat the process of law and Constitution without waiting for decision in suo moto case and petitions filed by combined opposition parties.
He said that the start of the process to appoint caretaker PM was not acceptable as it violated the law and Constitution.
“In these circumstances, the name of Justice (retd) Gulzar Ahmed proposed to be appointed as caretaker Prime Minister by Mr Imran Khan Niazi is a blatant attempt to subvert the provisions of the Constitution of Pakistan and to pre-empt the decision of the Supreme Court in the above-mentioned proceedings in which all issues including the violation of Article 244 and 224A at this stage are subjudice and as such name of Justice (retd) Gulzar Ahmed as caretaker Prime Minister is not agreed upon,” he added.
As per the procedure, the prime minister and leader of the opposition pick the caretaker premier. However, if the two sides cannot agree on a name, the matter goes to a parliamentary committee, which comprises of treasury and opposition lawmakers, and remains functional despite the assembly’s dissolution.
If the parliamentary committee also cannot reach a consensus, the Election Commission of Pakistan will do the job. If all fail, then the country’s Supreme Court will eventually appoint the caretaker prime minister.
Until the appointment of the caretaker premier, the incumbent prime minister will continue to serve.
