Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said that as many as seven names for the candidate of caretaker prime minister have been forwarded to opposition parties for forthcoming elections. Addressing media on Thursday outside the Parliament, the Opposition Leader said that after short-listing, seven names for nomination of caretaker prime minister have been sent to the other opposition parties.
He said that free, fair and transparent elections would be ensured through honest and better caretaker set-up. When asked about the names of seven candidates for caretaker prime minister, Nisar declined to disclose the names. However he hinted at seven names, which comprises two former judges of the Supreme Court, a senior lawyer and four politicians of good repute.
The Opposition Leader said that his party has contacted the Ameer Jamaat-i-Islami's (JI) Syed Munawwar Hasan, Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao of the PPP-Sherpao, Salim Saifullah of the PML (Likeminded), Hasil Khan Bizenjo of the National Party (NP), the Balochistan National Party-M Chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal and the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party's Mahmood Khan Achakzai for consultations over the caretaker government. He said that all these leaders gave positive response to the PML-N.
He said that if any party has objections on any name, it would be dropped from the list and new name of its choice would be included. He said that two names in the list would be selected for caretaker prime minister and would be sent to the Prime Minister. He said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) had sent two names for the caretaker prime minister but later back-tracked.
Nisar said that PML-N had held consultations with PTI on the name of caretaker prime minister. He said that after it the PTI had put forward the names of Shoaib Suddle and Razaq Dawood. But the claim made by Nisar was dismissed by the PTI, as the party's Information Secretary Shaqat Mahmood said while speaking to a private TV channel that the PML-N did not send any name for caretaker prime minister.