Caretaker PM, ministers to take oath on June 1

ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain will administer oath to caretaker prime minister and his cabinet members on June 1 (Friday) at the Presidency where outgoing Prime Minster Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will also be present. The caretaker administration will be responsible for holding free and fair polls in the country.

Well placed parliamentary sources told The News here on Saturday that National Assembly will have its last sitting in the last week of the current month since it will complete its mandated period on midnight of May 31, 2018.

The last session of the National Assembly would be devoted for farewell ceremonies including concluding address by outgoing Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition Syed Khursheed Ahmad Shah. The Prime Minister will host Iftar-dinner in honour of members of the Parliament on Ramazan 15th that will be the last day of the present National Assembly.

In the meanwhile sources pointed out that the government is keen to implement steps for bringing federally administered tribal areas (Fata) in mainstream but it is finding difficulties in ultimate merger of it in the KP province due to practical difficulties.

The constitutional amendments required for the purpose would need support of two third members of the two houses separately or collectively in case of joint house session. Assembling of the members in the required number would be difficult. For the reason the question could be deferred to the new National Assembly.

Yet another bill that was introduced in the current session titled “Anti-Terrorism Act” could also be adopted during the last session if it is not put up in the current sitting, the sources said.

Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq will continue to act as Speaker and hold the office till new assembly members are installed. He will administer the oath to new members of the House once elections are competed. The sources indicated another scenario that in case Prime Minister and leader of the Opposition don’t reach to an agreement on the name of caretaker Prime Minister then the country could be without a Prime Minister for five days from June 1 to June 5 as the Speaker National Assembly will constitute a parliamentary committee consist of three members each from government and opposition which will discuss the name forwarded by the two leaders.

In case the committee doesn’t reach on consensus for the caretaker Prime Minister within three days, the matter would be referred to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The ECP will pick any of the proposed names of the two sides and the person who will be designated by the Commission would immediately sworn in office of the Prime Minister, the sources said.