Core committee meeting: PM to kick off consultations on poll schedule

Farooq Naek, Khurshid Shah to discuss ECP ban on all recruitments with chief election commissioner.

ISLAMABAD:

The ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has given the go-ahead to Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to begin consultations with allies and opposition parties for the formation of a caretaker set-up and to decide a date for the upcoming elections.

A PPP core committee meeting also decided that Law Minister Farooq H Naek and Religious Affairs Minister Khurshid Shah would meet the chief election commissioner to discuss a recent ban  imposed by the Election Commission (ECP) on all recruitments at the federal, provincial and local government levels with immediate effect.

Meanwhile, a core committee member told The Express Tribune that the premier will consult all parties on the dissolution of assemblies before March 16 – a demand by Minhajul Quran International chief Dr Tahirul Qadri, which had been accepted by the government. However, it appears the government may attempt to drag its feet on the agreement.



“The agreement was between coalition partners in the government and Dr Tahirul Qadri. We are bound to consult the opposition under the Constitution,” said the committee member, who is also a federal minister, adding that neither an exact date for the dissolution of assemblies nor a date for holding elections is mentioned in the agreement with the MQI chief.

The coalition government had brokered an end to the sit-in in Islamabad after signing a five-point written agreement with Dr Qadri last week. However, Qadri only secured a vague date for parliament to dissolve by mid-March and a promise that he would be consulted on the appointment of a caretaker prime minister in the run-up to the polls, as well as a 30-day period for candidates to be screened.

Earlier, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan claimed that his party held the key to dissolving assemblies, referring to the authority given to the chief minister of each province to give advice on the dissolution of the assembly.

Although the National Assembly’s five-year term expires on March 16, the terms of provincial assemblies vary in accordance with the date of their first sessions after the 2008 elections.  The Punjab Assembly took oath on April 8, 2008, thus the chief minister can technically continue to remain in power till April 7, 2013 as per the law, unless he advises the governor to dissolve the assembly.

The election commission had already said it wants to hold elections for national and provincial assemblies on the same day. In this situation, it will be difficult for the government to dissolve the National Assembly if the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) does not agree to its proposals.

According to sources, dates between February 28 and the first week of March were being discussed for the dissolution of assemblies in government quarters.

Another participant of the core committee said the government will consult all stakeholders, including the opposition before making any final decisions.

“We will do everything in accordance with the Constitution and law. The Constitution is supreme for us,” he said.

Moreover, sources said the meeting expressed apprehensions over a recently issued notification by the ECP to impose a ban on all recruitments at the federal, provincial and local government levels. According to PPP leaders, under the law, the ECP cannot issue any such notification before an interim set-up is in place and the election schedule is announced.

Naek and Shah will be holding meetings with the chief elections commissioner and members of the ECP to convince them to review their notification. Meanwhile, an official statement issued by Prime Minister House confirmed that the meeting urged the premier to hold consultations with all political forces on the mode and modalities of the upcoming polls. The prime minister decided to formally start the consultation process in this regard, the statement added.

“The meeting resolved that free and fair elections will be held in accordance with the constitution in a fair and free manner and within the time limit stipulated in the Constitution and will not be delayed even for a day,” said the statement.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2013.