Khursheed wants assembly tenure cut to four years

Says a reduced term will be good for the country and institutions

ISLAMABAD: Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah has reiterated his stance that the tenure of the elected assemblies should be reduced to four years.

Speaking to media-persons on Saturday, Shah said he had made the same suggestion in 2014 also, but the government ignored it despite promising action in this regard.

He said “people now lack tolerance” because of frequent military interventions in the democratic process. “We do not tolerate the government for a longer duration. I reiterate that the terms of assemblies be reduced to four years,” he maintained.



The PPP leader pointed out that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had agreed to his viewpoint. “Reducing the term of assemblies will be good for the country and institutions,” he commented.

He said the matter should be reviewed by the electoral reforms committee, adding that he believed that no opposition party would disagree to the proposal.

Commenting on the issue of census data, Shah said it appeared as if the government had carried out the exercise just to get rid of the matter. “It is mandatory that the data compiled by the Statistics Division and the army’s record should be compared … this will clear up this matter.”

Meanwhile, Dr Arif Alvi of the PTI said Shah had made a similar suggestion earlier also, but his own party had not supported him. He said without the support of his own party, it amounted to nothing more than his personal opinion.



“Let us first be clear whether this is Khursheed Shah’s personal point of view or it is his party’s stance,” he said, adding that reducing the term of the assemblies would not prove helpful unless the rule of law was ensured.

Another PTI MNA, Asad Umar, said it would not be a bad idea. “Reducing the terms of assemblies for two or three consecutive terms will be beneficial for democracy in Pakistan,” he said.

Asad, however, said that the issue was not discussed at the level of his party, indicating that it was his personal opinion.