• Neither side shares any names; CM Murad hopes consensus will be reached soon
• Grapevine abuzz with PPP, MQM-P picks, GDA yet to make a decision

KARACHI / HYDERABAD: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and Leader of Opposition in the dissolved Sindh Assembly Rana Ansar held the first round of consultations on Saturday to reach a consensus on the nomination of a caretaker chief minister for the province, but made little progress as no names were suggested by either side during the meeting.

However, in a press conference after the meeting, Mr Shah expressed the hope that his interim successor would be appointed through a consensus.

During the presser, the chief minister also highlighted the performance of his government over the last five years.

In a separate media talk, Rana Ansar said, “He [CM] didn’t disclose names of his side and I didn’t share them either.”

Hyderabad-based Rana Ansar bec­ame the first female opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly on July 26.

Separately, MQM-P’s Deputy Convener Mustafa Kamal said the chief minister told the opposition leader that he would suggest names for the caretaker slot after consultating with his party leadership.

“We will give our names only after PPP made its nominations,” he said.

In his presser, the outgoing CM also brushed aside speculation, doing rou­nds in the media, regarding the app­oi­ntment of a caretaker, saying: “The media speculate on several names and when one is finally decided they claim they broke the news first,” he jibed.

Media reports had claimed that both the Pakistan People Party and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan had decided on three names each.

The process

As per the Constitution, the outgoing chief minister has to give three names for the caretaker CM and seek as many suggestions from the opposition leader within 48 hours of the dissolution of the assembly.

In case of an impasse, the Sindh speaker will form a committee comprising six members of the outgoing assembly with equal representation from the treasury and the opposition. The CM and opposition leader will forward two nominees each to the committee, which will have three days to evolve consensus on one name. If that fails as well, then the names of the nominees will be referred to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for a final decision within two days.

Political circles don’t rule out the possibility of the matter falling into the hands of the ECP, as mandated by the Constitution, in view of the continuing acrimony between PPP and MQM.

However, Sindh’s former advocate general Barrister Zamir Ghumro hopes both sides will reach an agreement on the matter.

The probables

Ever since the assembly’s dissolution, different names have become the topic of discussion among political and non-political circles. While PPP is said to be inclining towards Syed Mumtaz Shah, the outgoing chief secretary; Maqbool Baqar, a former Supreme Court judge; and Mubeen Jumani, a builder-cum-investor from Khairpur, the MQM-P’s possible picks may be Shoaib Siddiqui and Yunus Dhaga, both former federal secretaries. But it has to wait for the Grand Democratic Alliance’s (GDA) view before going ahead.

The GDA has considered names of Dr Safdar Abbasi, Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi, Fazalullah Qureshi and Mukhtiar Ahmed, the last two being ex-public servants, and Hussain Haroon, a former envoy to the United Nations.

“GDA has a combination of politicians and former civil servants and a name is to be forwarded considering the announcement at the federal level,” said a GDA representative while remaining non-committal on any name.

Shoaib Siddiqui has served as commissioner Karachi, and Maqbool Baqar, besides being a distant relative of a former MQM leader, is also said to have political inclination towards PPP. Mr Jumani, a well-off man with strong contacts in the construction sector, also has business interests in the United Kingdom. Mr Dhaga, a Karachiite, is a former federal finance secretary.

The PPP and MQM-P have been taking on each other ever since the Jan 15 local bodies polls which the latter boycotted leaving the field open for PPP to grab mayoral slots of Karachi and Hyderabad. The GDA lately seems to have developed some sort of understanding with MQM-P over the office of the leader of opposition.

Besides, the JUI-Fazl, which had been previously forthcoming in its criticism of MQM-P over its demand for a separate province, had surprisingly inched closer to it for the formation of a possible anti-PPP alliance. These alliances that started with a bang, however, ended with a whimper since the 2013 polls in which they lost to PPP.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2023