Due representation: Resolution seeks ICT right to elect its senators

At present, MNAs choose representatives of Islamabad in the Senate

ISLAMABAD: Senators of different political parties have demanded empowering the newly-elected local government body of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) by allowing it to elect its representatives to the Senate.

The lawmakers submitted a resolution in the upper house demanding for the ICT local government the right to elect its senators instead of the National Assembly, which, according to the resolution, was never a representative forum of the people of the capital.

Independent Senator Mohsin Khan Leghari moved the resolution, which also urges the federal government to let ICT local government elect the senator on the seat vacated by Zafar Iqbal Jhagra.

The Election Commission has yet to issue a schedule for the Senate seat in ICT that Jhagra vacated after his elevation to the post of K-P governor.

According to the draft of the resolution, “the house recommends that appropriate measures be taken to empower the elected representative body of ICT to elect its representatives to the Senate like the elected representative bodies of other federating units elect their representatives hence reflecting the true spirit of federalism.”

Senator Leghari told The Express Tribune that according to the Constitution the federating units comprise four provinces, ICT and Fata.

Leghari said that each provincial assembly elects its representatives, while NA representing capital elects Islamabad’s senators. “What right do MNAs from Bannu, D G Khan, Karachi or Turbat have to represent capital and to elect its senators?” he asked.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2016.