Reviewing the prevailing election scenario in the country, the Citizens Group on Electoral Process, chaired by former chief jusitce of Pakistan Saeed uz Zaman Siddiqui, has urged the lawyers and the civil society to play an active role in monitoring elections to ensure transparency and fairness in the process.
In a statement here on Friday, the Citizen Group said its respects the position of the lawyers' community to boycott the general elections. However, the group believed that as a non-partisan body of civil society, the lawyers' movement must also play a role in overseeing the fairness of the polls and guard the sanctity of the citizens' ballots cast in support of their representatives.
This role, the group said, did not run contrary to the stated position of boycott by the lawyers but in effect supports the achieving of their overall objective of the independence of judiciary.
It said a free and fair election is one of the means to achieve the overall objective of establishing rule of law in Pakistan The Citizens Group on Electoral Process is a non-partisan body consisting of eminent Pakistanis that regularly meets to monitor the process leading up to General Election.
The meeting of the Citizens Group on Electoral Process was chaired by Former chief justice of Pakistan Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui and former judges of Supreme Court Khalil ur Rehman, and Nasir Aslam Zahid, participated in the meeting as observers.
Members of the Group, who participated in the meeting included Lieutenant General Asad Durrani (Retd.), Dr Ijaz Shafi Gilani, Chairman, Gallup Pakistan; Lieutenant General Moinuddin Haider (Retd.), Mujib-ur-Rehman Shami, Editor-in-Chief, Daily Pakistan; former judge LHC Nasira Iqbal, former chief secretary NWFP Omar Khan Afridi, Ahmed Bilal Mehboob and Aasiya Riaz of PILDAT.
Comments
Comments are closed.