ISLAMABAD: The government and the joint opposition agreed on Friday to form a 33-member special parliamentary committee to prepare recommendations for electoral reforms.
A meeting of parliamentary leaders of opposition and government-allied parties, among them some ministers, held in Parliament House on Friday, endorsed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s proposal to form the committee. National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq presided over the meeting.
Interestingly, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) – which earlier seemed to be reluctant to become part of the committee – also attended the meeting. Sources told Dawn that before the huddle, PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi held a meeting with the speaker in his chamber. It is believed that the speaker persuaded him to ensure his party’s participation in the meeting.
The PTI, which has strong reservations over the results of last year’s elections, has been demanding elections reforms since then and has staged several demonstrations and rallies in different parts of the country over the issue.
On the other hand, the government has been asking the PTI to seek a solution within parliament and not on the streets.
The PTI had skipped the first meeting held in this regard on June 11 because, according to Mr Qureshi, it was reviewing the premier’s proposal and wanted to discuss the issue in a meeting of PTI’s core committee.
Prime Minister Sharif on June 10 wrote to the NA Speaker, asking him to constitute a special parliamentary committee comprising members of both houses of parliament to take up the issue. He suggested that the proposed committee should present strong recommendations on free and fair elections, establishment of caretaker government and use of modern technology in polls.
In Friday’s meeting, it was agreed that representation in the proposed committee would be given to all parliamentary parties on the basis of their strength in both houses.
According to this formula, the ruling PML-N will have seven seats in the committee, followed by the PPP with four.
The meeting was attended by Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmad Shah, PPP MNA Syed Naveed Qamar, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Abdul Rahim Mandokhel of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Qaumi Watan Party chief Aftab Sherpao, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed of the Awami Muslim League, Dr Arif Alvi of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, federal ministers Khawaja Saad Rafiq and Sheikh Aftab Ahmad, and others.
Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2014