Deadlock persists on appointment of CEC

ISLAMABAD: The government and opposition failed to break the deadlock over the name of next Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) on Monday and decided that speaker National Assembly (NA) Asad Qaiser and Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani will approach the court for seeking extension to make a decision on key appointments on the vacant seats of members of Election Commission of Pakistan from Sindh and Balochistan as well as the CEC.An informal consultative meeting between the government and opposition was held at Asad Qaiser’s chamber which ended to no avail.The deadline of Islamabad High Court was also expiring today (Tuesday), which was given to decide the matter of two members of Election Commission of Pakistan from Sindh and Balochistan and Chief Election Commissioner. Now the NA Speaker and Senate Chairman will submit a reply to the Islamabad High Court and will seek another extension to reach consensus.According to sources, if the Islamabad High Court granted the extension on this matter then it is possible that the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on the Appointment of CEC and members of the Election Commission would be held.Sources said the government sticks on the name of Babar Yaqoob for the post of CEC while the opposition refused to accept him at the post. Sources in the opposition said the opposition parties had serious reservations on the role of Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan Babar Yaqoob in the general elections and failure of RTS system and how could they accept him as a CEC. “If we accept the government choice of Babar Yaqoob as a CEC then it means that opposition narrative on rigging is wrong,” the opposition sources said.The opposition was of the opinion that the government insisted on the name of Babar Yaqoob just to prove the opposition narrative of rigging in the last general elections as wrong and wanted to kill two birds with one stone. “We had already proposed to the government that we are read y to choose the name of the Election Commissioner from the government nominee minus Babar Yaqoob,” opposition senior leader said. It is expected another round of the consultative meeting would be held on Tuesday.Later talking with the newsmen after the consultative meeting, Senator Mushahidullah Khan said there was agreement between the government the government and opposition that this matter should be settled in the Parliamentary committee.Ex-PM Raja Pervez Ashraf while talking with the newsmen expressed his hope that the Parliamentary Committee will decide on the name of the Chief Election Commissioner and Members of the Election Commission of Pakistan. The government has forwarded the names of Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad along with two retired bureaucrats Fazal Abass Mekan and Muhammad Arif while the opposition has proposed the names of the Nasir Khosa, Ikhlaq Tarar and Jalil Abass Jilan for the post of CEC. Opposition leader in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif has proposed the names of Nisar Durrani, Justice (Retd) Abdul Rasool Memon and Aurangzeb Haq as ECP member from Sindh and Shah Mehmood Jatoi Advocate, Rauf Atta and Ex-Speaker Balochistan Assembly Rahila Durrani as member of the ECP from Balochistan.

from The News International - National https://ift.tt/34tTJBX