Deadlock on the appointment of a caretaker chief minister for Punjab continued on Monday, as deliberations of the six-member committee of the Punjab Assembly (PA) remained inconclusive on their second day.
Committee members have hinted that the issue, like the selection of the interim prime minister, is likely to be sent to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) because opposition and government members have taken strong stances on their respective nominees.
The six-member committee, formed under article 224A of the constitution, is not mandated to contemplate names for caretaker chief minister outside the existing four nominees, said opposition member Chaudhry Zahiruddin Khan. He said this matter had been clarified in a briefing given to the committee by advocate general Punjab and secretary law.
Major (retd) Zulfiqar Gondal, another member of the committee from the opposition benches, said that they had asked the government members to extend their cooperation for the finalization of a name after the opposition had rejected both nominees of the Punjab government on solid grounds. He added that so far both sides had not budged from their stated position and the matter would likely be resolved by the ECP.
The committee had been forwarded the names of Justice (retd) Aamir Raza Khan and former federal secretary Khawaja Zaheer by the government, while the opposition proposed the names of senior journalist Najam Sethi and Justice (retd) Syed Zahid Bukhari.
Inside story
According to sources inside the committee, merits and demerits of all nominees were discussed in detail during the two day deliberations.
The name of Najam Sethi has emerged as a challenge for the provincial government’s committee members, because they have neither raised any objection, nor given their consent to approve his name for the caretaker chief minister.
Insiders report that the opposition has repeatedly pushed the government to accept Sethi as the caretaker chief minister. However, government member Rana Sanaullah said that his leadership has not given the go-ahead for accepting Sethi so far. Documents available with The Express Tribune on each nominee shed light on the various issues being discussed during deliberations.
Justice (retd) Aamir Raza Khan was appointed as judge of Lahore High Court (LHC) during the martial law regime of General Zia ul Haq on July 10, 1979 and was never appointed as a judge under the constitution of the country. He is also reported to have hailed the imposition of Martial Law through resolutions during his tenure as president of the LHC Bar Association in 1977.
Khan is a relative of former Supreme Court chief justice Sheikh Anwarul Haq, who is ill famed in the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ranks for upholding the LHC decision sentencing Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to death.
Khawaja Zaheer, on the other hand, is a close relative of PML-N leader Khawaja Muhammad Asif and served Nawaz Sharif, in 1998, as additional secretary in the prime minister secretariat.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 26th, 2013.
