Law ministry warns about ‘election uncertainty’

Issue of delimitation complex and must be handled carefully

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Law and Justice has expressed apprehension before a parliamentary panel that the general elections might face uncertainty if objections over delimitations done by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) reach courts.

A consultant to the ministry Tahir Sarfraz expressed these concerns at a meeting of the National Assembly standing committee on parliamentary affairs on Wednesday where he stated that the issue of delimitations was complex and must be dealt with carefully.

“I fear that the situation can be quite different and may directly impact the elections if the matter of delimitations reaches the courts,” he said, adding that the process was extremely sensitive and fundamental to the conduct of general elections.

He said that a decision against any representation (made against delimitation before ECP) could shake that basis hence putting the whole process of election in jeopardy. Sarfraz expressed these concerns following a briefing by ECP’s additional secretary about delimitations and objections filed by politicians of different constituencies.



The committee members were also apprehensive of the fate of elections and Nisar Ahmad Jutt asked the ECP official upfront whether the elections were being held or not, prompting a roar of laughter. “Yes of course we are all set to conduct the exercise as per schedule,” assured the ECP official in response.

The official said that the number of representations on the last day of filing had reached 1,286 with 706 from Punjab, 284 from Sindh, 192 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 104 from Balochistan. He added that the hearing of these representations had started and on the first day two cities of K-P and Punjab were the subject of discussion.

Lawmaker Essa Nori asked the ECP about the process employed for delimitations as apparently, he said, it was conducted in haste with randomly drawn marking. “It can easily be seen in Gwadar, Panjgur, and Kharan,” he said, adding that he could not understand the logic behind such unplanned way of delimitation. The ECP official could not satisfy Nori but said they had opted for a transparent manner for delimitations.

PIA route
An official of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) told the committee that the reason behind suspending flights to New York was the operational loss over the last few years.

“The loss of Rs3 billion was being incurred annually despite the fact that the flights were completely booked. The turnaround has started in PIA and now the management was looking for rationalization of routes to increase profit,” he said, adding the route for the time being had been given to Delta Airline and the shifting of that plane to Saudi Arabia has already started giving PIA Rs900 million profit.

The PIA official told the committee that the operation to New York had not been cancelled but suspended and it would be reviewed in April. “The whole of PIA was never run like a business entity but like a bureaucracy,” he replied to a comment of Shahida Rehmani.

The official said that nothing was done to make PIA profitable during the last eight years and the time had come to make it cost-effective and renowned national carrier. He added that it would take about two years to cut losses.

“The process has already been started and we will soon start reaping dividends of new policies,” he concluded.