Senate proceedings: CEC phone call to Nisar seen as conspiracy

Conversation tantamount to pre-poll rigging: PPP senator.

ISLAMABAD:

The telephone call from Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) to the Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly led a PPP Senator from Karachi to claim that it was a plot for pre-poll rigging.

The telephonic conversation between CEC Fakhruddin G Ebrahim and PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan is tantamount to pre-poll rigging at a time when general elections are around the corner, said Senator Saeed Ghani during the Senate’s session on Saturday.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had written letters to 249 parliamentarians including Chaudhry Nisar seeking their educational certificates for verification. Later the CEC apologised to Nisar over the inappropriate language of the letter.

“ECP should only take measures to conduct transparent polls rather than cleansing the whole country,” Ghani said.

Senate Chairman Syed Nayyer Hussain Bokhari asked the Leader of the Opposition in Senate Ishaq Dar to look into the matter of degree verification in the Parliamentary Committee on Election Issues.

Dar sought briefing over the actual economic situation of the country before the end of the current government that has changed five finance ministers during its five-year term.

He said the house should be informed about the exact economic situation of the county so that a way forward could be suggested.

PPP Senator Sughra Imam said electoral rolls have not been dispatched to the constituencies concerned and 3.7 million voters had neither biometric fingerprints nor pictures on the rolls. Senate Chairman observed that the report of the Parliamentary Committee on election issues should come before the house for a thorough debate.

Senator Hasil Khan Bizenjo said that the people of DG Khan and Rajanpur were demanding to be made part of Balochistan instead of the newly proposed Bahawalpur Janoobi Punjab province and urged the need for changes in the limits of provinces.

Senator Mohsin Leghari, an independent legislator, said India has established its right over the Indus water and Pakistan lost its case in the International Court of Arbitration because the person representing Pakistan was not an expert of international law or water issues but a former editor of Karachi-based evening newspaper.

Senator Zahid Khan refuted the claims of Interior Minister Rehman Malik, who had stated that law and order was the prime responsibility of the provinces. Zahid said that all the intelligence agencies were under the administrative control of the federal government except Special Branch of the police.

Senator Hamdullah criticised the PPP government for signing the agreement with China to hand over Gwadar Port during the governor’s rule without consulting political leaders. He said that similar agreement of Reko Diq was signed when there was governor’s rule in the province.

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