ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Friday the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's ruling party at the centre, had not recommended finance minister Ishaq Dar’s name for caretaker prime minister, calling this a “rumour leaked as news.”

The current legislature is set to complete its five-year term on August 12, paving the way for the next general election in October. Under the constitution, the caretaker PM is to be appointed by the president in consultation with the PM and leader of the opposition in the outgoing National
Assembly. The law also stipulates that general elections be held less than 60 days after the dissolution of the National Assembly if it is dissolved when its term expires. 

If it is dissolved earlier, the election shall be held within 90 days of dissolution.

“There is no deadlock of this,” Sanaullah said about when the assembly would be dissolved, saying it would happen around 48 hours before the term expired. 

However, he denied that Dar’s name had been suggested by his party for caretaker PM.

“Ishaq Dar’s name has not been presented by anyone, not the PMLN, nor by any leader of the PMLN. This ca be a rumour, a rumour leaked as a news through sources,” Sanaullah said.

“This proposal is under discussion, however, that in the caretaker setup, why can't it be anyone other than a technocrat, a politician instead of a former bureaucrat or judge?” the minister added.

“There is no consensus on this yet but if there is consensus that it can be a politician, then definitely, it could be Ishaq Dar or another politician like him from another party.”

But whoever was picked as caretaker PM, Sanaullah said, had to be “someone who has a good repute, who has credibility, on which there is a basic consensus.”

Pakistan media has widely speculated in recent weeks that Dar could be a top candidate to lead the incoming caretaker government. 

Earlier this week, a PMLN spokesperson told Arab News the party wanted an economist, or someone with expertise on runing economic policy, as caretaker premier to ensure implementation of a badly-needed $3 billion short-term financial package from the International Monetary Fund that the South Asian nation clinched earlier this month, giving its economy a much-awaited respite as it teeters on the brink of default.

Dar is a chartered accountant by training and has, since the 1990s, served in several governments, most notably as chairman of the Pakistan Board of Investment, minister of commerce and three times as finance minister. He is regarded as the most trusted aide of the Sharif family, particularly supremo Nawaz Sharif, and his eldest son is married to Sharif's daughter.