Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah emphasized the need for a politician to be chosen as the caretaker prime minister, as he believes that retired judges or bureaucrats might not be entirely impartial. He dismissed reports suggesting that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was nominated by the ruling party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), for the coveted caretaker prime minister position. Sanaullah clarified that if a politician were to be appointed as the interim premier, there would be no issue with considering Ishaq Dar.
He stated that politicians from other parties could also be nominated for the interim prime minister role, citing Raza Rabbani from the PPP as a potential candidate. However, reports had emerged claiming that the PML-N had decided to pick Ishaq Dar for the caretaker PM position, which drew criticism from political commentators and even the PPP, a key ally of the PML-N.
To dispel concerns over the neutrality of the interim setup, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif assured that no one closely associated with the top PML-N leadership, the Sharif family, would be nominated as the interim PM. This measure aims to avoid any perception of bias in the caretaker government.
Ishaq Dar himself stated that discussions regarding the appointment of the caretaker PM were premature, and the decision would ultimately be made by the leadership of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), the alliance ruling at the Centre.