Imran Khan de-notified, made caretaker PM

ISLAMABAD: The President’s Secretariat issued a press release after midnight Sunday that stated “Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi, shall continue as Prime Minister till the appointment of caretaker Prime Minister under Article 224 A (4) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”

Earlier, the Cabinet Division de-notified Imran Khan as the Prime Minister of Pakistan after the dissolution of the National Assembly.

The Cabinet Division notification stated that, “Consequent upon dissolution of the National Assembly by the President of Pakistan, in terms of Article 58(1) read with Article 48(1) of the No487(1)/2022, dated 3rd April, 2022, Mr Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ceased to hold the office of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, with immediate effect.”

Besides, the Cabinet Division also issued the notification of de-notify the federal ministers, ministers of state, advisers and special assistants of the cabinet of Imran Khan. Following the notification of the Cabinet Division, Imran Khan was no more the Prime Minister.

When contacted, constitutional expert, former chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani, who articulated the 18th Amendment of the Constitution, stated that the notification which is in circulation of the Cabinet Division states that Imran Khan ceases to be Prime Minister and in these circumstances, there is no Prime Minister of Pakistan. "In the absence of any other notification, there appears that there is no prime minister of Pakistan,” he said.

Senator Mian Raza Rabbani said this was a Constitutional step that was taken by Deputy Speaker National Assembly as he had no authority to overwrite the constitutional provision and the then prime minister was facing a no-confidence under Article 58, which prohibited him from giving advice to the president to dissolve the National Assembly and the president also violated the Constitution by accepting the advice.

Parliamentary experts said that the Clause 4 of the Article 224 of the Constitution states: "The incumbent Prime Minister and the incumbent Chief Minister shall continue to hold office till appointment of the caretaker Prime Minister and the caretaker Chief Minister, as the case may be." While Article 94 of the Constitution stated that "The President may ask the Prime Minister to continue to hold office until his successor enters upon the office of Prime Minister."

The procedure of the appointment of the caretaker government described in the Article 224A of the Constitution, which reads as "224A (1) 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 caretaker 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.

"(2) In case a Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Provisional Assembly do not agree on any person to be appointed as the care-taker Chief Minister, within three days of the dissolution of that Assembly, they shall forward two nominees each to a Committee to be immediately constituted by the Speaker of the Provincial Assembly, comprising six members of the outgoing Provincial Assembly having equal representation from the Treasury and the Opposition, to be nominated by the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition respectively.

(3) The Committee constituted under clause (1) or (2) shall finalize the name of the caretaker Prime Minister or caretaker Chief Minister, as the case may be, within three days of the referral of the matter to it: Provided that in case of inability of the Committee to decide the matter in the aforesaid period, the names of the nominees shall be referred to the Election Commission of Pakistan for final decision within two days.

(4) The incumbent Prime Minister and the incumbent Chief Minister shall continue to hold office till appointment of the caretaker Prime Minister and the caretaker Chief Minister, as the case may be.

(5) Notwithstanding anything contained in clauses (1) and (2), if the members of the opposition are less than five in the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) and less than four in any Provincial Assembly, then all of them shall be members of the committee mentioned in the aforesaid clauses and the committee shall be deemed to be duly constituted.