Sources claim that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have agreed on Finance Minister Ishaq Dar as caretaker prime minister, Dar said, adding that the Election Act, 2017 will be amended to enable the interim ruler to take important decisions.
During an interview with a local television channel, Dar when asked whether Section 230 of the Election Act would be amended replied in the affirmative and said the country cannot be handed over to the government for day-to-day decisions.
He also said that there is no need to hide the matter from people because they will find out anyway.
Moreover, he said: “…but I think that it would not be right for the nation to spend three months on day-to-day decisions that would take this responsibility.”
“Our past experience has not been very good.”
According to sources, after reaching a consensus, the government is also taking other political parties into confidence.
The source added that the Finance Minister is also acceptable to the establishment as Interim Prime Minister; However, during the television programme, Dar said it was too “premature” to say whether he would be selected.
“Yes, I saw those reports today… As a fundamentalist Muslim, I believe you should not aspire to any office yourself, you should not chase it or lobby for it…”
He also said it was “premature” to say he had been selected for the role, adding that a proper constitutional process had to be initiated.
Asked if there was a consensus on his name, Dar said his record shows that he has always done his job to the best of his ability.
Meanwhile, this information has been revealed by parliamentary sources Both Houses of Parliament will this week pass the Electoral Reforms Bill, making major changes to the Electoral Act-2017.
The proposed reforms will enhance the powers of the caretaker government to deal with important matters of national importance, beyond day-to-day affairs.
The amendments to the Act will further strengthen the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conduct free, fair and transparent elections.
According to sources, the federal cabinet will approve a comprehensive bill in its meeting earlier this week and will be tabled in the National Assembly by Law and Justice Minister Senator Muhammad Azam Nazir Tara.
They added that amendments to the law would pass the Senate by the end of the week.
Sources said the law would enable the caretaker government to act like an elected government in dealing with international affairs and it would be able to act in a sovereign manner.
The caretakers will enjoy handling provincial issues the way an elected government would, including financial matters.
The committee formed by National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf under former NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has compiled their recommendations, which have been given to the government for further action.
Sadiq held a marathon closed-door session of the committee and approved the bill for reforms.
Sources said that laws and regulations regarding vetting of candidates will be followed with exceptional rigor in the upcoming elections to ensure that no undesirable person reaches the parliament or provincial councils.
The bill will also accommodate the recommendations of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, who had earlier asked the commission to be empowered to take certain steps.
He reminded the government that the conduct of elections depended on the necessary measures by the Commission to ensure that “standards of honesty, fairness, fairness as provided in Article 218(2) are met”.
The CEC noted that the electoral body has consistently strived to uphold the rule of law, fair play and meritocracy.
However, he reminded that the commission’s writ has been systematically challenged several times.
The letter said, “ECP’s authority has been routinely undermined.
The Chief Election Commissioner, in his letter, wrote about the ECP’s important disciplinary interventions in the past, which were suspended and set aside, giving errant officials a message to hide behind legal orders despite committing “serious level of irregularities in the performance of their official duties”.
He recalled that the writ of ECP was severely compromised at that time.
Sources said Parliament has already addressed the commission’s recommendations through legislation in the past few weeks.
