Deadlock looms over appointment of CEC, ECP members

Parliamentary committee fails to convene meeting for third consecutive day

ISLAMABAD: The deadlock over the appointment of the chief election commissioner and the ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan still persists as the parliamentary committee tasked with nominating candidates for the posts could not convene its meeting for the third consecutive day on Friday.

No decision has been reached between the treasury and the opposition benches in the National Assembly on the appointment of the new CEC despite a passage of nearly one week when Justice (retd) Sardar Muhammad Raza’s tenure expired.

Sources said the parliamentary committee, headed by Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari, would meet again on Monday to try and break the deadlock.

The treasury and the opposition members met twice for arbitration with NA Speaker Asad Qaiser in the chair but to no avail.

Sources said the government is firmly supporting Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad for the CEC post amid strong disagreement from the opposition.

They said the government turned down the opposition’s proposal for nominating any person other than Babar Yaqoob.

In their objection to the government’s nominee, the opposition members were of the view that the 2018 general elections became controversial while Yaqoob was serving as the ECP secretary.

A meeting between the government and opposition members was held in the NA speaker’s chamber on Friday to break the deadlock over the appointment of the CEC and the ECP members.

Mazari, Azam Swati and Ali Muhammad Khan represented the government, while PML-N’s Mushahidullah Khan, Murtaza Javed Abbasi and Nisar Cheema, Pakistan Peoples Party’s Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Sikandar Mandhero and Shahid Akhtar, and JUI’s Shahida Akhtar were from the opposition.

According to sources, the meeting again failed to sort out differences over the appointments.

Talking to media-persons after the meeting, Senator Mushahidullah Khan said the government parliamentarians are not able to respond to the opposition’s demands due to lack of contact with their high-ups.

“We, on the other hand, are fully empowered and expect the government’s team to show some kind of courage [in taking decisions],” said Mushahidullah. “There is still some hope that the matter will be resolved within parliament.”