The PPP leadership has short-listed names for caretaker setups at federal as well as provincial levels, sources told this correspondent on Saturday. Khurshid Shah said that assemblies, which would not be dissolved even a minute before the completion of parliament's tenure at midnight March 15/16, adding that the caretaker set up will be installed at the same time.
The names, sources said, were discussed by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and other senior leaders of PPP in a recent meeting in Lahore. Shortlisted candidates included technocrats and politicians for federal and provincial caretaker set ups. The sources said that technocrats topped the list of potential candidates for the post of caretaker prime minister in view of major economic challenges confronting the country.
Although, the party leadership is tight lipped about potential candidates for the post of caretaker prime minister, party insiders said that a Karachi-based business tycoon was among the top contenders. The sources also said that former finance minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh's name was included for an important post at the centre or provincial caretaker set up, but he is not among candidates being considered as the caretaker prime minister.
The PPP leaders indicated that they would discuss the proposed names with its coalition partners, including PML-Q and ANP, to evolve a consensus. The Prime Minister has already written a letter to Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, asking him to name two candidates for caretaker Prime Minister.
The PML-N is reported to have short-listed former Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid and former chief justice of Pakistan Justice Ajmal Mian. However, consultations with other opposition parties were underway and Chaudhry Nisar Ali indicated that PTI's views would also be solicited via Munawar Hassan, the chief of the Jamaat-i-Islami. About the caretaker setup in Punjab, President Zaradri is already in Lahore and holding important meetings with PPP Punjab leaders and with its coalition partners PML-Q and some disgruntled members of the PML-N.
A committee comprising MNA Syed Khurshid Shah, Senator Mian Raza Rabbani, Law Minister Farooq H Naek and Nazar Muhammad Gondal has been constituted by the President which is in touch with the PML-N, particularly Leader of the Opposition in Senate Ishaq Dar. There are two main players in Sindh, PPP and MQM, for the establishment of a caretaker setup. Reservations were expressed by members of the tiny opposition in Sindh with respect to what they regard as a clever but transparent move of the MQM to step away from the ruling coalition to get the post of leader of the opposition in the provincial assembly that would enable the two coalition partners to control the caretaker set up. However, the opposition in the Sindh Assembly control a very small number of lawmakers, too small to make any difference.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, ANP and opposition party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) would install the caretaker setup. The Chief Minister recently met with Leader of the Opposition Akram Khan Durrani of the JUI-F and discussed nine names for an interim setup. The Chief Minister provided a clue to the media after the meeting by saying that "the interim chief minister might be a retired judge or bureaucrat." The PPP has also presented some names for provincial interim setup. When contacted various party leaders particularly JUI-F and PPP in Balochistan said that Governor Rule in the province would be lifted a few days before the end of the parliament's tenure, enabling the reinstalled provincial government to select the caretakers.
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