Parliamentary body formed to name caretaker KP CM

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on Friday constituted a six-member parliamentary committee having equal representation from the treasury and opposition to nominate caretaker chief minister to run affairs of the province until the formation of the next elected government.He formed the parliamentary committee under Article 224-A of the Constitution after he received a letter from Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Friday. In the letter, Pervez Khattak recommended former chief secretary Ejaz Ahmed Qureshi and Himayatullah Khan, a retired senior civil servant, as his nominees for the position of the caretaker chief minister.He nominated former provincial ministers Shah Farman Khan, Muhammad Atif Khan and Mehmood Khan as members of the parliamentary committee announced by the speaker. The chief minister requested the speaker to notify the names of the opposition members for the committee to nominate the caretaker chief minister.Meanwhile, the opposition nominated Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F)'s Mufti Fazal Ghafoor, Noor Saleem Khan and Mehmood Bhittani. As they all belong to the JUI-F, the other parties in the opposition are likely to raise objections to it. Already, four opposition parties including the ANP, PPP, PML-N and QWP have complained that opposition parliamentary leader Maulana Lutfur Rahman, who belongs to JUI-F, didn't consult them while proposing the name of little known businessman Manzoor Afridi for the office of caretaker chief minister.The nomination of caretaker chief minister has been referred to the parliamentary committee after the inability of Pervez Khattak and Maulana Lutfur Rehman to reach agreement on a consensus candidate from among four candidates they had initially shortlisted.The leader of the opposition and leader of the House were expected to nominate the caretaker chief minister till May 31 as they had to decide the matter within three days after the expiry of the tenure of provincial legislature on May 28.Despite several meetings, Lutfur Rehman and Pervez Khattak couldn't reach consensus on the selection of caretaker chief minister after the name of Manzoor Afridi was dropped. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led provincial government had earlier also proposed the names of Ejaz Ahmed Qureshi and Himayatullah Khan while the opposition had put forward the names of Manzoor Afridi and Justice (R) Dost Muhammad Khan, who was a Supreme Court judge until a few months ago, for the caretaker chief minister.A consensus was initially reached between Pervez Khattak and Maulana Lutfur Rahman on Manzoor Afridi and the former even took him to Banigala for a meeting with PTI Chairman Imran Khan. However, his name was dropped after PTI chief Imran Khan did not approve it following hue and cry against Manzoor Afridi and PTI on the social media.It led to another series of talks between the two sides. One such meeting was held Thursday night which was also attended by Asad Qaiser and former member of the provincial assembly Shaukat Ali Yousafzai, but consensus could not be reached on any name.The matter was ultimately referred to the parliamentary committee.Article 224A (2) and (3) envisage that in case the chief minister and the leader of the opposition in the outgoing provincial assembly do not agree on any person to be appointed as the caretaker chief minister within three days of the dissolution of that assembly they have to forward two nominees each to a committee to be immediately constituted by the speaker of the provincial assembly, comprising six members of the outgoing provincial assembly having equal representation from the treasury and opposition to be nominated by the chief minister and the leader of the opposition.The committee will have to finalise the name of the caretaker chief minister within three days of the matter referred to it and in case of its inability to decide the matter within the stipulated period, the names of the nominees will be referred to the Election Commission for final decision within two days.In the meanwhile the incumbent chief minister will continue to hold office till appointment of the caretaker chief minister.

from The News International - Top Story https://ift.tt/2LQ9M52