Leaders meet today on caretaker govt

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah will formally hold a meeting today to discuss the appointment of a caretaker government for the upcoming elections.Shah disclosed this to reporters at his Parliament House chambers yesterday, and revealed that this would be his second meeting with the prime minister on the issue.He said that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had not yet decided on a candidate for the office of caretaker prime minister.Neither had any other opposition party put forward a name for the office so far, he added.The PPP leader is of the view that if the government had thought of possible nominees, it should not declare them and wait for the opposition to share its nominees first.Shah said that he wanted to suggest names of people who had a good reputation because transparency and fairness of the election depended heavily on the conduct of the caretaker set-up.He also suggested the formation of a parliamentary committee to ensure accountability of politicians.Shah is of the view that such a committee could become more powerful than the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), or any other institution.He also urged the government to name the new international airport in Islamabad after the PPP’s late chairperson Benazir Bhutto, and said that his party would take the matter to the Supreme Court if the government did not agree to their demand.The lower house Opposition Leader said that he would challenge the names of all hospitals and universities named after politicians who have been convicted of corruption.Under the Constitution, consultation between the prime minister and the opposition leader is essential for the appointment of a caretaker government to carry out the general elections in a fair and transparent manner.Shah has already organised informal meetings with almost all opposition parties on the issue, and he is expected to hold another round of consultations with them after meeting the prime minister.The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the other main opposition party, also wants a say in the process of appointing members of the caretaker government in Islamabad and in all the provinces.At a recent news conference, PTI chairman Imran Khan stated that they would not allow the PPP and the ruling Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) to strike a deal on the appointment of a caretaker set-up, as the two parties had allegedly done in 2013, without consulting the other parties.However, political experts believe that this time around, the PTI will not be in a position to raise a hue and cry over the conduct of caretaker governments, at least in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the party will have a direct role in the nomination of a caretaker set-up.The PTI appears to be more worried about the future caretaker government in Punjab, knowing that in the general elections, the party with the most seats in the province will claim the driver’s seat in forming a caretaker government in Islamabad.However, PTI’s vice-chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that so far, he had not had a formal consultation with Shah on the issue of a caretaker set-up.Responding to a question, Qureshi said that his party has not finalised the nominees for the future caretaker set-up.