The decision to choose Punjab caretaker chief minister was given to a parliamentary committee on Sunday after the government and opposition failed to reach a consensus.
Speaking to the media outside Punjab Assembly, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member and former opposition leader Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed said two names were finalised for the interim slot in a meeting with party chief Imran Khan. “Since the government and opposition could not reach consensus, the decision will be taken by a parliamentary committee,” he said. “We have nominated Hasan Askari Rizvi and Ayaz Amir for caretaker chief minister.”
He said the party had nominated himself, Sibtain Rehman and two others to be included in the parliamentary committee.
Meanwhile, PML-N has put forth the names of former naval chief Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah, former Intelligence Bureau director general Aftab Sultan, Justice (r) Sair Ali and former Punjab Police inspector general (IG) Tariq Saleem Dogar for the interim position.
The PTI has continued to swing back and forth over nominations for Punjab’s interim chief minister slot. On Friday, the party had another embarrassing situation as two party leaders tasked with announcing PTI’s fresh nominations for the interim post ended up giving contradictory statements and rejecting each other’s claims.
While Rasheed had informed the media about party’s two new nominations of controversial columnist Orya Maqbool Jan and businessman Yaqoob Izhar for the caretaker chief minister of Punjab.
PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry jumped into the furore, claiming that Orya Maqbool Jan was not on the fresh list of nominations, which include Yaqoob Izhar, former Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA and columnist Ayaz Amir, and the previously-nominated defence and political analyst Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi.
Published in Daily Times, June 4th 2018.
