Islamabad: Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that a politician should named as caretaker prime minister. He said that retired judges or bureaucrats are not “neutral”. He dismissed reports that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar chosen by the ruling party for the coveted position.
Rana Sana Ullah denied that PML-N, had offered Dar for the position of interim prime minister.
But the federal minister said that there nothing wrong with Ishaq Dar’s name.
“When everyone, including my party, says that only a politician should be caretaker prime minister and not a technocrat, retired bureaucrat, or retired judge, it’s only natural that a name like [Dar] would come up,” he said.
He said that politicians from other parties could also put forward for the position of temporary prime minister. “From the PPP, Raza Rabbani’s name can picked,” he said.
Insiders in the ruling coalition were quoted in the mainstream media as saying that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), a major partner in the ruling coalition, agreed to choose Dar as the caretaker PM.
The media said that the PML-N leaders didn’t agree with the criticism that the finance minister’s choice as caretaker PM would make people doubt the neutrality of the interim government.
Not only did political analysts disagree with the idea, but PPP also had doubts about naming Dar as caretaker PM.
Elections Act changes
The interior minister said that the changes to the Election Act 2017 only meant to give the caretaker government more power to make sure the economy and other important things run smoothly.
He denied that the current alliance planned to keep the caretaker government in place for longer than 90 days.
Sanaullah also said that all rumours about this are false because there was no plan to put off the polls.
Earlier today, a joint session of parliament passed changes to the Election Act of 2017. These changes give the caretaker government more power to make important economic choices and work with international institutions.
The parts of Section 230 of the election act that say how the caretaker government should work have been changed.
According to the changes, the interim setup won’t be able to sign any new agreements or make choices about bilateral or multilateral agreements.
According to the changes, the temporary government will be able to make decisions about projects that are already underway.
