LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Tuesday approved the name of journalist Najam Sethi for the Punjab caretaker chief minister slot.
Hours before the matter would have gone to the Election Commission of Pakistan for a final solution, the PML-N, after a grand review meeting finalised the name of the award winning journalist.
Former law minister Rana Sanaullah while announcing the committee’s decision explained the reason for the 11th hour announcement was that they had put forward their names after due consultation with other parties. In light of the options put forward by the opposition, and the need to deliberate on the names further, the PML-N had to consult those parties again.
“This morning, the consultations were on going.”
“Constitutionally we are obligated to finalise a name by midnight, hence we kept ourselves open to the candidates proposed,” Sanaullah said.
“The country has been listening to his unbiased analysis on television, and we hope that he would now conduct free and fair elections.”
Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif ordered the parliamentary committee to hold another meeting and reach a consensus over the name of caretaker chief minister of Punjab.
Earlier during the day, the third and the final committee meeting had failed to reach a consensus and had forwarded the matter to the Election Commission of Pakistan. However, sources said that the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) was concerned that the election commission might pick a candidate presented by the PPP, so they decided to call a review meeting.
“We still have time till midnight,” Shahbaz told the media.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) nominated journalist Najam Sethi, Justice (r) Zahid Hussain, while the PML-N suggested the names of Justice (r) Amir Raza Khan and Khawaja Zaheer, a former bureaucrat.
Bad Days of Punjab has just begun ! My Condolence to entire Punjab from Sindh !
