LAHORE: Nearing the end of their term in the assemblies, parties in the ruling coalition have reportedly finalised a list of five names for the slot of caretaker prime minister, not all of whom are politicians, Dawn has learnt.

Earlier, leaders from both the ruling PML-N and its coalition partner, the PPP, had tacitly agreed to consider politicians rather than technocrats to lead the caretaker setup.

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Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had, in a recent statement, said that PML-N and the PPP had shortlisted five names for the slot of caretaker prime minister and all of them were politicians.

Mr Asif had said the names of the candidates would also be discussed with other political parties to evolve a consensus, but the final decision would be taken by coalition leaders — considered a reference to the troika of Nawaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari and Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

But despite this, the list of five names agreed upon between the two partners also features the name of former chief justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani.

Ex-CJP Tassaduq Jillani among names being considered

According to a member of the federal cabinet, ex-CJP Jillani’s name is being considered as one of the nominees for caretaker PM. Justice Jillani had served as the 21st CJP from 2013 to 2014.

The question of who will be caretaker PM has dominated political discourse in the country for several weeks now, with many names being bandied around.

For instance, a couple of weeks ago, Ishaq Dar’s name emerged as one of the contenders. It was said that since he is trusted by both Nawaz and Shehbaz Sharif, the incumbent finance minister may be a sound pick to run the interim setup.

There was an impression that Mr Dar’s name had been leaked to get ‘feelers’ from other stakeholders before a formal nomination was made, and indeed it seemed that the move had backfired when this elicited a sharp rebuke from other coalition partners, the PPP in particular.

In addition, journalist Mohsin Baig and former finance minister Hafeez Sheikh had also been tipped for the position, with their pro-establishment credentials being cited as the reason for their selection.

However, on Monday, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb insisted that “Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has not chosen or ruled out any candidate for interim prime minister yet”.

The information minister was asked for comment on reports that Justice Jillani’s name was also being considered for the coveted post, but she did not respond to Dawn’s request.

Published in Dawn, Aug 2nd, 2023