The primary responsibility of a caretaker set-up is to hold free, fair and impartial elections, which necessitates a cabinet with portfolios focused on these objectives, political commentators told Business Recorder.
The constitution is silent on the qualifications of a caretaker cabinet or indeed exactly what duties they should perform though there is a general consensus that caretakers must restrict their activities to a bare minimum with no mandate to formulate or implement any policies or strategies; there is therefore a need for proper legislation to further streamline the existing mechanism of caretaker set-up, experts further stated.
The caretaker government therefore must have a small cabinet consisting of only few important portfolios till formation of a new parliament. The important ministries requiring a caretaker minister must include interior, water and power, law and justice.
However, given the state of the economy and the fact that any attempt to resolve the power crisis would imply significant cash injections from the Ministry of Finance for which there is little or no fiscal space implies that a Minister of Finance is critical at the present moment in time; however this portfolio remains vacant nearly two weeks after the caretaker Prime Minister took over. However, the incumbent caretaker prime minister has inexplicably included some portfolios such as ministers for inter-provincial co-ordination, food security, information and broadcasting, postal services, port and shipping, housing and works, Pakistan railways, religious affairs and national harmony, which have no role to play during elections or indeed maybe required for fire fighting.
When asked about the importance of Railways Ministry, a senior official of Pakistan Railways said that no major decision was on the cards for which a minister was needed. "The whole Railways need a complete overhaul which is not possible in the absence of an elected government," he added. Sources in Ministry of Information Technology also said that currently the ministry was not in a position to carry out its major projects like the auction of 3G license, as Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is working without its chairman in the office and members of the authority and in any case these decisions must be taken by an elected government.
Sources in the Ministry of Housing also told Business Recorder that there were simply no major decisions pending before the ministry which needed a caretaker minister. A senior official who wished not to be named queried as to what a caretaker minister could do when a full time minister who completed his term did nothing worth mentioning. "If you want me to elaborate further I would rather say the housing and works ministry is a liability on the national kitty," he asserted.
Sources in the Ports and Shipping Ministry stated that unless there was a democratically elected government, no major decisions like handing over of Gwadar port to China, can be taken. "A caretaker minister has nothing to do during his two month king-ship in the ministry and he will only be there to avail the attractive perks and privileges," he added. When asked about supply of Nato goods to US forces in Afghanistan, he said that the two countries had already signed an MoU and all work was being done accordingly. "If this is the reason to appoint a [caretaker] minister, I don't agree with whoever has floated the idea," he maintained.