The PM says that no name has been short-listed for caretaker PM as of now         President Dr Arif Alvi (L) and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. —APP

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday confirmed that he would write to President Dr Arif Alvi today (August 9) to dissolve the National Assembly, which would bring the incumbent government’s term to a marginally premature end.

The government has announced that assemblies will be dissolved three days ahead of the mandated period, following which elections are to be held within 90 days.

Addressing a ceremony in Islamabad, PM Shehbaz said: “After completing our [government’s] term tomorrow, I will write and send [the advice] to the president to dissolve the assembly and then an interim government will take over.”

In an interview with a television channel, Prime Minister Sharif said that no name had been shortlisted for the caretaker prime minister and a collective decision would be taken in this regard.

The prime minister said that after taking a collective decision by the coalition government in consultation with Nawaz Sharif, the shortlisted names would be taken up with the opposition leader.

Asked whether the caretaker prime minister could be from the PMLN, he said whosoever is finalized for the slot should be acceptable to all.

Asked whether a delay in the conduct of general elections would be acceptable to him and his party, the prime minister said that so far it was an assumption but a decision in this connection should be left to the Election Commission of Pakistan.

To another question, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that every party would go to the elections with their manifestoes adding that whatever decision is taken by the masses should be acceptable to all.

Asked as to why he is preferring Nawaz Sharif over himself as the next premier, Shehbaz said he had made the announcement as the party president.

Asked to comment on Bilawal Bhutto’s proposal that PTI leadership could also be included in the negotiation process, the prime minister said the PPP leadership has its point of view on the issue and PML-N respects their view.

However, he recalled that as the government started negotiations with the PTI on general elections and talks were moving ahead successfully, it was Imran Khan who sabotaged the process and deceived his negotiating team.

On the issue of Toshakhana, Prime Minister Sharif announced to sell all the gifts through an open and transparent process, saying the money generated would be spent on the education of poor children and to support their families. He reiterated that May 9 was the darkest day in the country’s history when monuments of Shuhada were also not spared and observed that it was the worst conspiracy against COAS General Asim Munir and the Armed Forces.

In a talk with the media at the Parliament House, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Raja Riaz said that three names for the caretaker prime minister had been finalized in consultation with his colleagues.

Though he did not share the names of the caretaker prime minister, he said he would share the names after a meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, which is expected today (Wednesday) and consultations will be held on the issue.

When asked if PMLN Quaid Nawaz Sharif had finalized the name and consultations with the opposition leader were now meaningless, Riaz replied: “Whatever you say I have my own opinion. I have completed the consultation with my colleagues and 90 per cent of the names were finalized and I will meet the prime minister on Wednesday.”

When asked whether the caretaker prime minister will be a judge or a general, Raja Riaz said that his three names will those of Pakistanis only.

In a related development, Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal said that consultations were going on for the caretaker prime minister and the name will be finalized within three days after the dissolution of assemblies.

He told a news channel that all the state institutions were working together to stabilize the economy and they all were on the same page for the development of the country.

Meanwhile, speaking in the Geo News programme Geo Pakistan, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif both stated that there was a possibility of a delay in holding the next general elections.

Sanaullah said that 2023 was not the election year. When asked if 2023 was the year when elections would be held, the minister said, “It is an absolutely straightforward answer — no.”

When one of the hosts commented that the upcoming caretaker setup had “acquired an unconventional significance as the one to that might stay for more than three months”, Sanaullah insisted that there was nothing extraordinary about it.

He went on to reiterate that under the Constitution, another general election could not be held on the 2017 census results as they had been accepted “provisionally for a single time”.

Emphasising that it was required by the Constitution to carry out the delimitation process after a census was notified, Sanaullah said, “The caretaker government, while fulfilling this constitutional requirement, will carry out the delimitation process.”

The minister noted that the process takes around 120 days, so there was nothing about the elections being delayed by many months. “As soon as this constitutional requirement of delimitation is completed, then after that, God-willing, elections will be held,” he said.

Talking about the names under consideration for the caretaker prime minister, Sanaullah said they were all respected names and discussions were underway. “No name has been locked till now. Even if it is [decided] till today evening or tomorrow… there are more chances that it will be locked tomorrow,” he said.

In an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson that was aired Monday night, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that elections were “due in November”. He also pointed out that the National Assembly was set to be dissolved by Wednesday (August 9) evening, adding that under the Constitution polls would be held within 90 days. “Ninety days in the deadline. One cannot go beyond 90 days. But under some conditions, the election commission has the power to delay it, because of some election problem or census problem or electoral role problem, for a month or two but not beyond that,” he said. When asked whether the approval of the 2023 census would result in an election delay, Asif said: “I cannot speculate at the moment but it is a possibility. I won’t rule that out.”

At the end of his interview, Asif reiterated that elections will be held in November. “I do believe that elections will be held in November. But you asked me if there is a possibility of delay; there is a possibility of a delay but not more than a couple of months on technical grounds, and no ulterior motive in that,” he said.

Anderson then pointed out that the approval of the census came the same day that PTI chief Imran Khan was arrested in a graft case and wondered if the two developments were connected, “No, they’re not at all connected. The census controversy was going on for the last many, many months. And we had to create a consensus between all the provinces of Pakistan, so that the results are accepted by all the provinces.”

“The delay was because of this controversy. Otherwise, the result of the census has absolutely no connection with Imran Khan’s conviction,” he said.