It is heartening to note that Azam Khan, a former bureaucrat, has taken oath as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa caretaker chief minister.

Khan’s name for this post was finalised after consultations between outgoing chief minister Mahmood Khan and the then leader of the opposition Akram Khan Durrani.

Unfortunately, however, the parliamentary committee on nomination of caretaker chief minister in Punjab failed to reach agreement on any name for the job. The ball is, effectively, in Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP’s) court.

Outgoing chief minister Pervaiz Elahi has, however, threatened to move the court should the ECP nominate any person for the post of caretaker chief minister. It is increasingly clear that growing polarization in Punjab, the country’s largest and most important province in political terms, is exacting its toll on the entire country and its economy.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N’s) inability to successfully reclaim the space that it had lost to Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) in Punjab in 2018 is the principal reason behind political turbulence across the country.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), on the other hand, has a different story to tell. In Sindh, it is on course to reduce PTI’s footprint in a meaningful manner.

Tabish Rahmani (Karachi)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023