Marathon meeting: Qadri-govt talks hit stalemate

Govt reluctant to reconstitute ECP, introduce electoral reforms; Dr Qadri threatens to move Supreme Court.

LAHORE:

For influential scholar Dr Tahirul Qadri, the political odyssey that he began two weeks ago is far from over.

On Sunday, Qadri threatened to move the Supreme Court if all his demands were not met.

The government has agreed to two of his demands: dissolution of national and provincial assemblies before March 16 and broad-based consensus on an interim set-up. However, it’s reluctant to reconstitute the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and introduce electoral reforms. The demands were part of the Islamabad Long March Declaration, the agreement signed by Dr Qadri and a team of government negotiators on January 18 which led to the end of a four-day-long dharna outside Parliament House.

A marathon follow-up meeting was held on Sunday between the two sides at the Tehreek Mihajul Quran Secretariat in Model Town, Lahore. The government negotiators included PML-Q’s Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Mushahid Hussain Sayed, MQM’s Dr Farooq Sattar and Babar Ghauri, and PPP’s Khursheed Shah and Qamar Zaman Kaira.



Appearing at a news conference with Kaira after the meeting, Dr Qadri again spelt out his demands and warned that he would move the Supreme Court if these were not met.

He said the government would announce the election schedule and the date for dissolving the assemblies in seven to 10 days. “Prior to that, the government will also give legal cover to the Islamabad Declaration.”

According to Dr Qadri, the government negotiators also assured him that the next election would be held within 90 days of the dissolution of assemblies.

On the interim government, he said that Pakistan Awami Tehreek, the political wing of Tehreek Minhajul Quran, will be consulted on the nomination of a caretaker prime minister and provincial chief ministers. “The consultation process will be completed in seven to 10 days,” he added.

Deadlock

Following government’s reluctance, Dr Qadri budged on his demand for the reconstitution of the ECP and instead called for the removal of four provincial chief election commissioners whom he called political appointees.

“Chief Election Commissioner Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim is an honest person. But the provincial chief election commissioners should be removed because their appointments are illegal and void ab initio,” he said.

According to Article 213 of the Constitution, each province is required to send three nominees to the parliamentary committee for provincial chief election commissioner, Dr Qadri said. The parliamentary committee then picks up one name after a due hearing process.

“Unfortunately, the parliamentary committee, which did receive 12 names from four provinces, selected four provincial chief election commissioners without conducting any hearing,” he claimed. He warned that if the provincial chief election commissioners were not removed, he would move the Supreme Court against their “illegal appointment”.

Dr Qadri also called upon the government to hold the next election under Article 218(3) of the Constitution.

Article 218(3) states, “It shall be the duty of the Election Commission constituted in relation to an election to organise and conduct the election and to make such arrangements as are necessary to ensure that the election is conducted honestly, justly, fairly and in accordance with law, and that corrupt practices are guarded against.”

On his part, Information Minister Kaira assured Dr Qadri the government would provide legal cover to the Islamabad Declaration through legislation.

However, he said that a high-powered committee of constitutional experts met recently to discuss the idea of reconstituting the ECP. “According to the committee’s recommendations [which were submitted to the federal law minister], dissolution of the Election Commission is not possible constitutionally,” he added.

Kaira also said that the dates for general elections and dissolution of assemblies would be announced within 10 days. “The Constitution will be followed for the caretaker set-up by evolving consensus with the opposition separately”” he added

Inside story

PML-Q leaders Chaudhry Shujaat, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Mushahid Hussain held a separate meeting with Dr Qadri before the formal talks. According to sources, Mushahid advised Dr Qadri to call for the removal of four provincial chief election commissioners.

At the subsequent talks, Dr Qadri adopted an aggressive stance and pushed ahead with his demands. The Chaudhrys supported his stance and urged PPP’s Khurshid Shah and Kaira to accept the demand for the removal of the provincial chief election commissioners.

This led to an altercation between PPP and PML-Q negotiators, sources said, adding that a telephone call from Law Minister Farooq Naek saved the situation. Finally, it was agreed that the PPP would not object, if Dr Qadri moved the Supreme Court for the implementation of his demands.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th, 2013.