Justice (R) Nasir Aslam Zahid :: Candidate for Caretaker Prime Minister

The Honourable Justice (R) Nasir Aslam Zahid (Urdu: ناصر اسلم زاہد‎; born 3 February 1935, Barrister-at-Law, is one of the most respected names of Pakistani judiciary. Son of the first Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan Mr. Zahid Hussain, Nasir Aslam Zahid has remained the Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court and then a judge of the Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan and Supreme Court of Pakistan. He gained more honour and respect when he resigned from the Supreme Court of Pakistan instead of taking oath of the office according to Gen. Pervez Musharraf's Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO).


Justice Nasir matriculated from Karachi's St Patrick's High School, did his BA at Government College Lahore and went on to University of Cambridge (Fitzwilliam House) to study law and gain an Honours Degree. In 1956 he was called to the Bar from the Middle Temple.

Barrister Zahid enrolled as an advocate of the Sindh High Court in 1957, and of the Supreme Court in 1962. He was elevated to the Bench of the SHC as an Additional Judge in 1980, and in 1983 was made a permanent judge. The second of the Pakistan Peoples Party government temporarily removed him from the Bench in 1988 to send him off on deputation as the federal law secretary, a post he held until June 1990 when he returned to the SHC. From January 1991 to the end of April of that year he moved to the Supreme Court as an ad hoc Judge. He had several spells acting as Chief Justice of Sindh, during the absence of the sitting Chief Justice, and in May 1992 took over as permanent Chief Justice. By 1994, Justice Zahid s independence could be tolerated no more by the harsh law enforcement agencies, backed by the executive. A relief-giving judge, he afforded no quarter to the agencies or the government prosecuting authorities. He was moved to the Federal Shariat Court on April 16 of that year, without his consent, for a period of two years. A tribute to the man. By right and according to the Supreme Court judgement of March 20, in April of this year he should have returned to the SHC to resume the chief justiceship. But, he was instead elevated as a permanent judge of the Supreme Court. However, he continued his contribution towards the dispensing of justice to the people of Pakistan up to the year 2000, and resigned from the Supreme Court of Pakistan instead of taking oath of the office according to Gen. Pervez Musharraf's Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO), which would have required the judges never to find illegality in the new government, no matter its actions.

MQM proposes Justice (R) Nasir A. Zahid, Dr. Ishrat Hussain for Interim PM post

Parliamentary Leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), in the National Assembly, Dr. Farooq has proposed the names of Justice (Retd), Nasir Aslam Zahid and Dr. Ishrat Hussain for the Interim Premiership.
This was stated in letter signed by Dr. Farooq Sattar whose copy was circulated here on Friday.
Dr. Farooq Sattar has also sent his proposal to the Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly, Chaudary Nisar Ali Khan through the letter on Friday.

Ishrat Hussain :: Candidate for Caretaker Prime Minister

Ishrat Husain is a Pakistani banker and economist, who is the Dean and Director of the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi. Dr. Ishrat was the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan's Central bank from 2 December 1999 to 1 December 2005. He also lead the National Commission for Government Reforms for two years from May 2006.

Husain holds a Masters degree in Development Economics from Williams College and a Ph.D in Economics from Boston University. He is a graduate of the Executive Development Program jointly sponsored by Harvard, Stanford and INSEAD.

He joined the elite Civil Service of Pakistan in 1964 and served in the field and also held mid-level policy making positions in the Finance, Planning and Development departments before moving to Washington in 1979 to join the World Bank as an Economist in West Africa Programs Department. He became the Bank’s Resident Representative to Nigeria in 1983 and led the Bank’s team that assisted Nigeria in formulating its first ever structural Adjustment program in 1986. On his return to headquarters, he headed the Bank’s Debt and International Finance Division and contributed to the development of Bank’s strategy that led to World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) participation in the Brady Initiative for Debt Reduction. As Chief Economist for Africa between 1991–94 and later as Chief Economist for East Asia and Pacific Region he guided and supervised the Bank’s analytical work on the countries in these regions. In 1997 he was named the Country Director for Central Asian Republics and managed the World Bank’s relations, programs and policies with these countries. Earlier, he was the director of Poverty and Social Policy Department. He was responsible for the Bank's policies and strategy development in such areas as Poverty Reduction, Gender Relations and Dynamics, NGOs, and Reform within the Public Sector. He was the Chairperson of the Public Sector Group.

Abdul Hafeez Shaikh

Abdul Hafeez Shaikh is a Pakistani political economist and technocrat who served as the 20th Finance Minister of Pakistan in the government of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani

Hailing from Jacobabad, Sindh Province of Pakistan, Shaikh educated and earned doctorate from the Boston University in the United States, and has authored books on Privatization initiatives and support for capitalism. Served professor at the Harvard University, Shaikh associated his services with the World Bank, and served as the director of economics operations of World Bank in Saudi Arabia throughout the 1990s. Following the dismissal of government of Prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Shaikh returned to Pakistan in 1999 and served in the provisional government of Sindh. In 2003, he was brought up to national politics by Prime minister Shaukat Aziz[1] and was the second minister of privatization in the government of Shaukat Aziz, oversaw the successful execution of privatization programme of Aziz in the country.[1]

In 2010, he was appointed as finance adviser by Prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani but later upgraded to minister after securing his mandate from Jacababad constituency. Since then, he has been directing the economical and financial institutions of the country. In 2012, he became an active member of Pakistan Peoples Party and successfully contested in the 2012 senate elections. Shortly after presenting the federal budget on June 3, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court, alleging that Shaikh holds a dual nationality an allege, if proven true, may disqualified Shaikh from the finance ministry and senate as well.

New Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan

Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh will be new caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan in my prediction.

Parvez Ashraf with Family at Ajmer Shareef