Talking to media in Islamabad, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the caretaker Prime Minister will be selected with mutual consensus of all political parties. He reaffirmed that PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif would lead the political campaign of the ruling party in the next general elections. “People do not vote for Shabaz Sharif or Shahid Khaqan Abbasi,”he added. The Prime Minister disclosed that presenting the next budget in Parliament is the prerogative of the caretaker government but the incumbent one would prepare and finalize it before leaving the office.
The proposal of selecting the caretaker Prime Minister with the mutual consensus of all political parties that have representation in the parliament is, apparently, worth appreciation. But it is not clear as to whether the same rule of political game will be observed in the selection of caretaker Chief Ministers of provinces. The main problem in this modus poerendi will be how to build a consensus for the caretaker set up. The failure in arriving at consensus on the formulation of Terms of Reference for Judicial Commission on Panama Papers probe depicts how difficult building of consensus is. It was the unwillingness for mutual consensus on this issue which compelled PTI to come out on the roads for the lock down federal Capital Islamabad. Consequently, the matter was decided by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Does the leadership of ruling PML-N wants to linger on the selection of caretaker setup and force the opposition, particularly PTI to resort to street power? The selection procedure of caretaker set up is defined in the 20th Amen dement to the constitution and needs to decided as such. If the consensus proposal is a political gimmick of the ruling party to divide the opposition the move will backfire. Sanity demands that selection of caretakers should be done in an amicable manner in line with the provisions of the relevant article of the Constitution. Giving a lead role to a politician disqualified on the charges of corruption runs contrary to the established norms of democracy.
