Almost three days before the completion of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led government, he will dissolve the Parliament on Wednesday-- paving a path for the interim setup and much-awaited and touted elections.
PM Shehbaz, while speaking at an event on Tuesday, confirmed that he would visit the President and hand over a summary for the dissolution of the National Assembly.
"Tomorrow [Wednesday] my government completes its term and [after] meeting constitutional norms, we will hand over the reins to the interim set-up," Pakistani English daily Dawn quoted the premier as saying during an event.
Notably, the caretaker government is appointed in Pakistan after the outgoing Prime Minister and the leader of the Opposition give the nod for it. If they fail to agree on a name, the Prime Minister and the Opposition leader will forward their names to a bipartisan committee to zero in on one name within a given time period.
If the committee also fails, the Election Commission of Pakistan receives the same names and chooses one of them to serve as Prime Minister. The caretaker Prime Minister appoints a Cabinet to manage the government's activities, and he leaves office as soon as the newly elected Prime Minister takes the oath of office.
Imran won't be able to fight elections until 2028
Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan's top electoral watchdog disqualified former Prime Minister Imran Khan for five years after his conviction and arrest in the Toshakhana case. In a notification, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman was disqualified after being found guilty of corrupt practices and his subsequent sentencing for three years, Geo News reported.
“As a consequence, Mr Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi has become disqualified under Article 63(1)(h) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan read with Section 232 of the Elections Act,2017,” the notification said.
Requirements of a caretaker government
A caretaker government, by Pakistani law, is tasked to oversee day-to-day matters important to the government but is not allowed to make major policy decisions except for urgent matters. A caretaker government is also supposed to restrict itself to routine, non-controversial and reversible matters.
A caretaker Prime Minister is expected to be an impartial person towards any person or political party. However, in some cases, it has been found that caretaker governments have overstepped their boundaries, such as in 2013, where all appointments, transfers and holdings by the interim authority were revoked by the Supreme Court.
What speculations suggest?
Meanwhile, sources in the Pakistani daily claimed that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is expected to meet National Assembly Opposition Leader Raja Riaz on Tuesday or Wednesday to “finalise” the name for the slot. He claimed a politician, who was not associated with any political party, could also become the caretaker PM.
Earlier on Monday Sharif held separate meetings with MQM leadership and PPP leader Yousaf Raza Gilani. MQM delegation led by Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui proposed the name of Governor Kamran Tessori for the caretaker prime minister.
There are also reports that former financial expert Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh could become the caretaker prime minister. However, Sanaullah said the name of Sheikh’s has not been agreed upon. According to Dawn, his name was floated as he is said to be the strongest contender and is believed to be acceptable to all mainstream political parties.
