The Meeting of Parliamentary Committee for appointment of chief election commissioner was postponed without taking any decision, it is learnt. The meeting was scheduled for today (Monday) but it has been postponed after a short while due to strong protest by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on the legality of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.
According to sources, the PML-N members said in the meeting that the appointment of new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) could not be discussed before the election of new prime Minister. The sources said that the PML-N members strongly protested against the Prime Minister and said that CEC could not be appointed by the unconstitutional government. They said that Prime Minister has been disqualified after the convection as per the Supreme Court judgment.
The meeting of the Committee chaired by Secretary National Assembly was held at the Parliament House. It was its first meeting during which the decision about the appointment of CEC was to be taken. Pakistan People's Party (PPP) also protested against the stand taken by PML-N parliamentarians.
Sources said that the PML-N Parliamentarians were of the view that proposal of three names by the prime minister was illegal saying that the PM has been convicted by the court and thus is no more prime minister. He has no authority to propose names, they said.
The PML-N has received a list containing names of former Justice Munir A. Sheikh, former Justice Amirul Mulk Mengal and former Justice Zahid Qurban Alvi from the prime minister for appointment as the Chief Election Commissioner. However, Opposition Leader said the letter was meaningless as it had been sent to him by a convicted prime minister. The meeting was cancelled due to the ensuing ruckus from both sides.
The meeting would now be held tomorrow. Meanwhile Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan has also accused the government of attempting to appoint a chief election commissioner of its liking without the consultation of and against the approval of the opposition. Munir A. Shaikh whose name is being floated as the CEC is an extremely controversial person who is very close to PPP, he added.
He stated this while talking to media on Monday. He said that it is right of opposition to hold the office of chairmanship of parliamentary Committee for appointment of CEC. He said that the new CEC would be appointed from small province. He said that the name of CEC should be recommended with two-thirds majority of the Committee. "We have proposed some names for new CEC that belong to small provinces," the Opposition Leader said.
The Monday's meeting has also been convened for the election of committee's new chairman, while Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, was the chairman before the Senate election. The 12-member committee, comprising members from both houses of the parliament with equal representation of the government and the opposition, has recently been reconstituted by National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza after the new elections of the Senate held in March.
There are four new faces in the newly-formed parliamentary committee. Raja Zafarul Haq and Zahid Hamid of the PML-N, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri of JUI-F and Chaudhry Ghias Ahmed Mela of the PML-Q are the new members of the committee. The other members are Syed Khursheed Shah, Islamuddin Sheikh and Arif Aziz Sheikh of the PPP, Khwaja Muhammad Asif, Lieutenant General Abdul Qadir Baloch (Retd) and Tehmina Daultana of the PML-N, Haji Muhammad Adeel (ANP) and Dr Farooq Sattar (MQM).