‘Outgoing govt has no right to present budget for next financial year’
ISLAMABAD: With general elections a few days away, leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah on Wednesday called on Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to discuss the caretaker setup.
The meeting between the premier and the opposition leader took place at the Prime Minister House in the federal capital. This is the third meeting between the government and opposition to discuss and reach to a consensus over the caretaker prime minister of Pakistan.
During the meeting the prime minister shared the opinion of the government and its allies with the opposition leader on the name of the caretaker prime minister.
According to some reports, Syed Khursheed Shah made it clear that the outgoing PML-N government has no right to present a budget for the entire upcoming fiscal year. Shah asked the prime minister to budget for the next four months only — to cater to the needs of the interim set-up — and give the next government the opportunity to present a budget of its own.
Following the meeting with premier, Khursheed Shah met with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi at the chambers of the Parliament House. Shah took Qureshi into confidence over his meeting with the prime minister. He shared that the opposition should start finalising their names of the post of caretaker PM. The meeting was also attended by Shireen Mazari and Naveed Qamar.
The current government is expected to conclude its five-year term on May 31, after which the caretaker government will take over to hold the general elections, which are expected to be held in the last week of July or first week of August.
As per the Constitution of Pakistan, the caretaker prime minister is appointed by the prime minister in consultation with the opposition leader in the National Assembly.
Both the premier and the opposition leader then present names of three nominees each from which the consensus candidate is appointed as the caretaker prime minister.
The prime responsibility of the caretaker government is to ensure that the elections are held in a transparent manner. INP
