In an informal consultation at the Punjab House in Murree on Sunday, Pakistan Muslim League-N agreed to submit the name of a former judge for the post of caretaker Prime Minister to ensure a fair and transparent election, sources said. However, the party did not confirm whether any such meeting took place.
The spokesman for the Punjab government, Pervaz Rasheed, told some media persons that no such meeting had been held. However, credible sources in the PML-N maintained that an informal meeting had been called in the Punjab House in Islamabad, but it was cancelled at the last moment with a change in the meeting's venue.
Sources also said that the sole agenda of the informal meeting was to pursue the PPP for holding early general election and to decide upon the name of the caretaker Prime Minister.
Participants of the meeting agreed to take these proposals to the PPP after getting final approval from Nawaz Shairf. It was decided that the caretaker set up would neither be run by anyone from the PPP or the PML-N, nor one who had been a member or leader of any other political party. He should be a former judge who had not taken oath under the Provisional Constitution Order. Some conflicting reports claimed that a meeting between PPP and PML-N took place in Islamabad to formulate the modalities of general election. It was also reported by a private TV Channel that general elections were expected in the first week of November. However, the prime minister will formally announce the roadmap for elections on August 14.
There were also reports suggesting that a seven-member team of the PML-N, which included Chaudhry Nisar, Raja Zafarul Haq, Khwaja Asif, Ishaq Dar and Pervez Rasheed, and a five-member team of the PPP, which included Syed Khursheed Shah, Aitzaz Ahsan, Raza Rabbani, Farhatullah Babar and Jehangir Badr, attended the meeting.