‘Caretaker PM to be appointed through consultation’

ISLAMABAD: Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal has said that a caretaker prime minister would be appointed through consultation with allied parties.

Iqbal made these remarks during an appearance on the Hum News programme “Hum Dekhen Gey.”

Iqbal emphasised that the current coalition government would step down upon completing its constitutional tenure, ensuring that elections would be held on schedule.

He also said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif plans to return to Pakistan before the elections and actively participate in the electoral campaign. However, Iqbal noted that the exact date of Sharif’s return had not yet been finalised.

Nawaz Sharif, 73, was disqualified as the prime minister by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2017. Subsequently, in 2018, he was declared ineligible to hold public office for life following the verdict of the Panama Papers case.

Since November 2019, Sharif has been residing in self-exile in the United Kingdom.

The recent amendment to the Election Act Amendment limits the lifetime disqualification of lawmakers to a maximum of five years and this legislative change paves the way for Sharif’s return to Pakistan and actively take part in politics once again.