The word “caretaker” itself describes that this should be a transitional setup to facilitate the transfer of power from one elected government to the other by conducting free and fair elections with the help of an independent and powerful Election Commission. Unfortunately, we have a judiciary embroiled in political controversies, with a paid bureaucracy lacking credentials and not understanding the significance of the oath they take, which is loyalty to the constitution and not any individual. Circumstances demand that there be no more controversies or a repeat of incidents like May 9.

However, rumours that a relative of a former PM, who is also the patron of a major political party and part of the current coalition PDM, is being considered for this position are shocking and hopefully not authentic news. We have a checkered political history—a country created through a constitutional political struggle led by men of integrity like MAJ, derailed by the intrigues of a few, deviating from the vision of its Father of the Nation to be a modern democratic welfare state with self-rule by the people, reduced to an authoritarian country.

In 1962, Sardar Bahadur Khan, son of Risaldar Major Mir Dad Khan and brother of the ruling military dictator General Ayub Khan, was installed as the Leader of the Opposition from June 8th, 1962, to August 21st, 1964, until such time as a controversial rigged election was held. One can only hope that sanity will prevail. A visibly neutral caretaker transitional setup must be put in place to hold free and fair elections, which are generally acceptable and, on the surface, not tainted to begin with. There should neither be the likes of Moin Qureshi nor Shaukat Aziz, but individuals with no conflicts of interest and no split loyalties, holding a single Pakistani nationality.

MALIK TARIQ ALI,

Lahore.