LAHORE / QUETTA: The process of selection of caretaker chief ministers of Punjab and Balochistan lingers on as on Wednesday the parliamentary committee in Lahore failed to reach a consensus and referred the matter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) whereas in Quetta the government-nominated members did not turn up at a meeting of the parliamentary committee.

The ECP will now select caretaker chief minister of Punjab out of the four candidates recommended by the parliamentary committee.

A meeting of the parliamentary committee, chaired by former speaker of the Punjab Assembly Rana Muhammad Iqbal, was held at the assembly’s committee room. In the meeting, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was represented by Rana Sanaullah, Khawaja Imran Nazir and Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) by Mahmoodur Rasheed, Sibtain Khan and Shoaib Siddiqui.

“A consensus decision on caretaker chief minister could not be reached because of the rigid attitude adopted by the PML-N,” said PTI’s Mr Rasheed while talking to Dawn.

Government representatives keep themselves away from parliamentary committee meeting in Quetta

For the final decision, the PML-N has floated the names of two candidates — retired Admiral Mohammad Zakaullah and retired Justice Sair Ali — and the PTI is supporting Dr Hasan Askari and Ayaz Amir.

During the meeting, Mr Rasheed claimed, the PML-N team expressed reservations on the candidature of Mr Amir while the PTI raised objections over the candidature of retired Admiral Zakaullah. The PTI leader said that they insisted that the committee should reach a consensus on Dr Askari as he was a non-controversial personality.

The PML-N, it is learnt, asserted that it was PTI’s turn to accept one of the candidates pitched by the former.

“The deadlock reached a level that the committee was not even able to shortlist one candidate each supported by the two parties,” Mr Rasheed said.

Sources said it had become a sticky issue after the PTI backtracked on the selection of Nasir Mahmood Khosa for the post of Punjab caretaker chief minister finalised by former opposition leader Mahmoodur Rasheed and outgoing Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

In Quetta, the first meeting of the parliamentary committee constituted for selection of caretaker chief minister of Balochistan was held on Wednesday with former chief minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri in the chair.

Three members representing the opposition, including former chief minister Dr Malik Baloch and Syed Liaquat Agha, were present at the meeting but three other members representing the previous government — Tahir Mehmood, Sardarzada Sarfaraz Khan Domki and Amanullah Notezai — did not attend the meeting.

Four names of the candidates for the post of caretaker chief minister, two each from the opposition and government sides, will be sent to the ECP in the next 24 hours for a final decision if the parliamentary committee fails to reach a consensus on one name.

Outgoing Chief Minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo had said in a press conference on Tuesday night that the government members would not attend the parliamentary committee meeting as other opposition parties were not happy over the former opposition leader’s failure to consult them on the issue.

However, Nawab Zehri said that the opposition was following the Constitution for selection of a consensus candidate and alleged that Mr Bizenjo was creating hurdles in the working of the parliamentary committee.

“Mr Bizenjo wants to remain chief minister forever,” alleged Mr Zehri who was removed from the post of chief minister after a no-trust motion was moved against him by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz members in the Balochistan Assembly along with the opposition members.

On the other hand, Mr Bizenjo said that the leadership of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl), Balochistan National Party (Mengal), Awami National Party and BNP-Awami had filed a petition in the Balochistan High Court and also written a letter to the former speaker of the Balochistan Assembly over the failure of the former opposition leader to consult them on selection of caretaker chief minister.

Mr Bizenjo said that the leaders nominated by the former opposition leader for the parliamentary committee were those who had been ruling coalition partners for four and a half years.

He said that BNP-M chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal and Maulana Abdul Wasey of the JUI-F had raised objection that the former opposition leader had not consulted them on the candidates he had suggested for the post of caretaker chief minister.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2018