Three names finalised for caretaker Punjab CM: Parvez Elahi

LAHORE/PESHAWAR: Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi said on Sunday that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) had finalised three names — Ahmed Nawaz Sukhera, Naseer Ahmad Khan, and Nasir Mahmood Khosa — for the post of caretaker chief minister in Punjab.

Talking to the media after meeting PTI Chairman Imran Khan here, he said three names had been finalised after consultation and the first name on the list was of Ahmed Nawaz Sukhera. He said that these names were being sent to the Punjab governor and hoped that an agreement would be reached on one of these names.

Parvez Elahi, in response to a question, said consultations were underway on a possible merger of the PMLQ with the PTI. He said Moonis Elahi wanted the PML-Q to merge with the PTI.

MNA Chaudhry Hussein Elahi was also present at the meeting with Imran Khan.

Earlier, Parvez Elahi inaugurated Pakistan’s first Khatamun Nabiyeen University and laid the foundation stone of Jamia Masjid Khatamun Nabiyeen on Sunday.

Talking to the media, he said Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) would face a humiliating defeat in the elections and it would meet the same fate, which Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had already met. “The PMLN is getting weaker every passing moment and we gave a big surprise to it in the vote of confidence,” he said, adding that now President Arif Alvi would ask them to take the vote of confidence, and they would find themselves in a perilous situation.

Imran Khan has suggested an appropriate arrangement for Shehbaz Sharif, and now he would have to take a vote of confidence, which he would fail to obtain from the National Assembly, Elahi said.

The CM said “Imran Khan is a noble person, and he has the spirit to make his country prosperous. The youngsters are standing with him and are working for him.”The CM said the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly would also be dissolved a day after tomorrow, and now only general elections would take place.

The Punjab chief minister said [Interior Minister] Rana Sanaullah kept on misleading the people that hidden help was in the offing. He has gone to see Nawaz Sharif, along with a team of liars and the PMLN leader sitting there would take him to the task.

The CM said the PMLN was seeing a horrible defeat in the general election, and for that reason, Nawaz Sharif was not returning to Pakistan.

He said Nawaz Sharif himself had asked them to hold elections in the country in the past.

When the CM Punjab was asked whether he would contest the next poll on the symbol of a cricket bat or bicycle, he told the questioner to remain ‘patient’ to get the answer.

Meanwhile, the PTI-led government has decided to dissolve the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly on Tuesday, after the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly.

KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan — who was awaiting orders — has received directions from PTI Chairman Imran Khan to send the summary for the assembly’s dissolution to the KP Governor Haji Ghulam Ali.

The provincial chief executive would send the summary under the Constitution’s Article 112 to the governor on Tuesday, and if Ali decides against signing it, then the legislative would automatically dissolve after 48 hours which is expected on Thursday.

“God willing, the Tehreek-e-Insaf will again form its government [in KP] with a two-thirds majority,” CM Mahmood wrote on his official Twitter handle on Sunday. Defending the PTI chairman, the KP chief executive said that Imran Khan had sacrificed his governments for the sake of the country. “[Khan] will soon be the prime minister,” he added.

Mahmood further said that the people of Pakistan had finally come to the understanding that getting rid of self-interested political mafia was of paramount importance.

“We will complete the journey of development which was started under the leadership of Imran Khan,” he also said.

In response to the development, the governor told a private TV channel that he would follow the Constitution upon receiving the summary.

Higher Education Minister and the spokesman for the provincial government, Kamran Bangash, told The News that the chief minister would move a summary to the provincial governor to dissolve the KP Assembly on Tuesday.

There were also rumours of the caretaker chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and different names of the former civil servants were in circulation for their likely appointment in the future setup.

However, credible sources told The News that Chief Minister Mahmood Khan had not yet discussed the caretaker setup with relevant authorities.