ISLAMABAD:In the wake of the dissolution of National Assembly on April 3, President Dr Arif Alvi on Monday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi and Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing National Assembly Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif to propose a suitable person for appointment as caretaker Prime Minister under Article 224 A (1) of the Constitution of Pakistan.
He conveyed to both the leaders that “in case, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing National Assembly do not agree on any person to be appointed as the care-taker Prime Minister, within three days of the dissolution of the National Assembly, they shall forward two nominees each to a Committee to be immediately constituted by the Speaker of the National Assembly, comprising eight members of the outgoing National Assembly, or the Senate, or both, having equal representation from the Treasury and the Opposition, to be nominated by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition respectively, in pursuance of Article 224A(1) of the Constitution of Pakistan.
He further wrote that the incumbent Prime Minister, Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi, would continue to hold Office of the Prime Minister till appointment of the care-taker Prime Minister under Article 224A(4) of the Constitution.
It is worth stating that the Constitution has empowered the President, under Article 224(1A), to appoint caretaker Prime Minister in consultation with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing National Assembly.