No more meetings with Abbasi on caretaker PM, says Khursheed Shah

ISLAMABAD: Opposition Leader Khursheed Shah announced on Thursday that he would not meet Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi again for consultations on the name of the caretaker prime minister.

The Pakistan Peoples Party leader said that the premier had from time to time backtracked from his position in consultative meetings with him.

The opposition leader and PM Abbasi have met six times but no consensus could be reached on a candidate for the post of caretaker prime minister. 

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 the first week of August.

The caretaker prime minister will lead the interim set-up and attend to day-to-day matters of governance.

According to sources, the government has suggested names of former chief justice of Pakistan Justice (retd) Nasir-ul-Mulk and Justice (retd) Tassaduq Hussain Jillani – also a former chief justice. The Pakistan Peoples Party, on the other hand, has finalised the names of Zaka Ashraf and Jalil Abbas Jilani for the position.