LAHORE - The matter of appointing a caretaker chief minister in Punjab eventually landed in the parliamentary committee after expiry of the constitutional deadline of three days during which the chief minister and the opposition leader failed to evolve consensus over one name. In this connection, Punjab Governor Muhammad Balighur Rehman wrote a letter to the Speaker Punjab Assembly at 10:10 pm (Tuesday night) informing him about a lack of consensus between the chief minister and the leader of opposition in the outgoing Punjab Assembly over the name of one person as the caretaker chief minister of Punjab. “Since the chief minister and the leader of the opposition have failed to agree on any name for care-taker CM within the stipulated time in accordance with Article 224(1A) of the Constitution, I have written a letter to the Speaker, Punjab Assembly so that the process can be taken forward for the appointment of care-taker CM as per Article 224A (2) of the Constitution”, a communique issued from the Governor House said. According to the relevant article of the constitution, the PA speaker will constitute a six-member parliamentary committee with equal representation of the two sides to evolve consensus over one name within three days. The chief minister and the opposition leader would give two names each which may not necessarily be the same as given to the Punjab governor before. The two leaders may change their respective panel of names at this stage. In case the parliamentary committee fails to agree on one name within three days, it will refer the four names to the Election Commission of Pakistan for final decision within two days. The Election Commission will pick one name out of the four names forwarded to it by the parliamentary committee. Earlier in the day, the PDM alliance forwarded two names to the Punjab governor for appointment as caretaker chief minister. They included head of a media group Mohsin Raza Naqvi and ex-bureaucrat Ahad Cheema. Sources in the PPP said that the name of Mohsin Naqvi was recommended by Asif Ali Zardari while the name of Ahmad Cheema came from the PML-N side. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday also held consultations with the leaders of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) to finalize the name for caretaker Chief Minister of Punjab.
Bilawal meets WEF founder, discusses int'l cooperation