The political front in Sindh was all quiet on Thursday and members of the provincial cabinet, including Speaker of the Sindh Assembly, preferred to remain non-committal as regards changes which the interim set up is likely to bring.
Spokespersons of the Sindh governor and the chief minister kept their mobiles switched off. There was passive resistance to the press so that peaceful political manoeuvring could continue till such time situation precipitates favourably.
However, sources close to the chief minister house said that they were expecting nomination of the interim chief minister to come from the people in decision making circle in Islamabad. Names of retired judges are being considered for appointment as caretaker chief minister of Sindh, sources added.
Sources said that there were a few judges who were either away from the recent lawyers movement in favour of the former chief justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, or have sided with the government's action have been short listed.
Refusing to comment further sources said that intelligence agencies have also cleared the idea of appointing a retired judge as interim chief minister of Sindh.
It is also learnt that the interim cabinet will have retired technocrats as ministers so that the ongoing development projects continue to move toward completion. "To maintain continuity will be the sole purpose of the interim set up. They will be completely non-partisan during elections to ensure fairness of the entire election process."
Commenting on the recent changes in the police set up at district level the sources said that these were administrative measures that were long overdue. Similar changes in the civil bureaucracy at district level have already been effected and a few changes here and there would take place in due course.
When asked about large-scale election campaigning by the PML (Q) and its coalition partners, they said that it would be done strictly in the light of code of conduct expected from the Election Commission.
They said that efforts were being made to launch joint election campaign by the coalition partners after making seat adjustments. "The seat adjustment is the only formula that can bring all the parties, including MQM, on one platform." They said that in the process MQM is being offered a few more seats from the interior of Sindh so that it remains firmly associated with coalition partners.
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