he National Assembly of Pakistan is going to complete its tenure in August. There, however, remains uncertainty about the tenure of the caretaker government and timely elections. The parliament has added to the complexity of the situation by working as a law-amending factory during the last week of July and the first week of August. It has promulgated or amended nearly 70 laws without much debate. The constitutional legitimacy of the laws and caretaker government will remain questionable over the days to come.

Last week, senior Pakistan Peoples Party leader Khurshid Shah told the media that a summary to dissolve the National Assembly would be sent to President Arif Alvi on August 9. If that happens, the assembly will seize to exist on August 11, regardless of whether President Alvi signs the summary or not. In this scenario, the constitution requires the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold elections within 90 days, which means the elections are a must before November 12. But Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who until recently had been assuring national and political allies that elections would be held within the constitutional timeframe, has now triggered doubts about the polls in November by saying that elections would be held based on delimitations under the new census. Till the writing of this piece, the government had not released the results of the census. Meanwhile, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the Jamaat-i-Islami and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz have questioned the accuracy of the census results. The next challenge for the government is to install a consensus caretaker government. The PML-N had formed a committee, comprising five members: Ishaq Dar, Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Khawaja Saad Rafique for consultation with the allies. According to Ahsan Iqbal, the PML-N secretary general, the consultation is going on and no name has been finalised yet. Interestingly, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) senior vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that the committee has not consulted the PTI – the real opposition. As such, Qureshi has said, the caretaker setup would be unconstitutional.

On the other hand, Khurshid Shah said on Monday that five names had been proposed for the caretaker prime minister. Talking to the media in Karachi, he said the shortlisted candidates for the caretaker premiership are not currently associated with any political party and have a reputation as “neutral” persons. He said that a committee comprising members of all parties, present in the parliament, had finalised the names.

Senior PTI leader, Zulfi Bukhari, told The News on Sunday, “If the government installs a credible person with a neutral public image, we will not challenge the appointment. But consultation with the PTI is a must.”

He said the government wanted to remove PTI chairman and his close aides from the political horizon by arresting or disqualifying them from contesting the elections. For this purpose, he said, they may conspire to delay the polls.

Senior PTI leader, Zulfi Bukhari, told The News on Sunday, “If the government installs a credible person with a neutral public image, we will not challenge the appointment. But consultation with the PTI is a must.”

Senior lawyer and constitutional expert Saiful Malook says, “The constitution has no provision to allows the ECP to extend the stipulated timeframe for elections. The ECP works under the constitution despite being an autonomous body. It cannot violate the constitution to suit somebody’s ambitions.” He says that the delay in holding the provincial elections in the Punjab has been a violation of the constitution.

“The government never consulted us although they claim to be the champion of political reconciliation. We have been challenging the unconstitutional acts of the government but nobody bothers about the rule of law,” says Rauf Hasan, PTI’s information secretary.

He says that installing a caretaker government without consulting the PTI would be unconstitutional and the party might challenge it. “It is evident now that the government has no intention to hold elections within the timeframe mentioned in the constitution. The rulers will use delaying tactics and we will resist their bid to violate the constitution. Whether we get justice or not is another matter,” says Hassan.

He mentions that the PTI had filed a petition against the delay in holding the elections in the Punjab but to no avail.

The Lahore High Court on Tuesday heard a petition filed by lawyer Aftab Ahmad Bajwa, who sought an order to stop the Punjab caretaker government from functioning. The court has asked the attorney general and the Punjab advocate general for assistance.

The petitioner has pleaded that the provincial caretaker government has lost its legitimacy after it failed to hold fair and free election in the Punjab within 90 days and that the tenure of the caretaker government ended in April 2023. He has requested the court to declare the existence of the Punjab caretaker government unconstitutional and direct the ECP to appoint a new setup.

However, Justice Raheel Kamran Sheikh has said that the court will not pass any order without hearing the government’s view.

Syed Nayyer Hussain Bukhari, the PPP secretary general, says that the party has a clear stance on elections being held within the 90-day timeframe. “The PPP will not support any delay in elections because that will lead to a constitutional crisis.”

The government is amending the laws in an intriguing way. On Wednesday, some of the treasury members too objected to hasty legislation in the Senate and called the bills and the process unconstitutional and undemocratic.

Meanwhile, sources close to the PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif have revealed to TNS that he has deferred his plan to return to Pakistan till September. Earlier, several party leaders had indicated that the elder Sharif might return on August 14. The change in plans may also have something to do with regard to the caretaker setup.

The writer is a senior journalist, teacher of journalism, writer and analyst. He tweets at @BukhariMubasher