‘Little teacher’ an online star
He is a renowned political and military analyst with vast international exposure
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) yesterday announced Prof Hassan Askari Rizvi as the caretaker chief minister of Punjab.
Addressing a press briefing, Additional Secretary ECP, Dr Aktar Nazeer said the commission had received four names from the government and opposition of Punjab to consider for the position of caretaker CM Punjab.
He said the decision to nominate Rizvi as Punjab CM was made after thorough discussion and with consensus by the Commission in its consultative meeting which was chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza and attended by all members of the commission.
An expert
He said that Prof Askari is a famous educationalist and who had a long affiliation with education sector.
He said being an analyst on various TV talk shows, he had proven himself as an expert on national and international issues.
Nazeer said the ECP had appointed him under article 224 of the Election Act 2017.
The matter of nominating the caretaker Punjab CM was referred to the ECP after the failure of parliamentary committee to reach consensus over the proposed candidates, with rival sides blaming each other for failure to reach a consensus by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) and Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) parties.
The PTI had proposed the names of news analyst Ayaz Ameer and Rizvi for the post of caretaker CM, while the PML-N had nominated Admiral Mohammad Zakaullah and Justice (retd) Mohammad Sahir Ali.
Dr Rizvi is a renowned political and military analyst who served as professor emeritus of political science at his alma mater, Punjab University. He also served as a visiting professor of Pakistan Studies at Columbia University from January 1996 to July 1999.
From 1988 to 1991, Rizvi served as professor at Heidelberg University of Germany. On March 23, 2010, the professor was awarded Sitarae-Imtiaz by the President of Pakistan. He is author of a number of books, including Military, State and Society in Pakistan and The military and politics in Pakistan: 1947-1997 among others.