Done without consultation: PTI challenges G-B CEC appointment
Says political parties were not consulted before appointing the poll body head
ISLAMABAD:
As Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) prepares for elections which are to be held in March 2015, stakeholders, including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), have challenged the appointment of the G-B’s chief election commissioner (CEC) in the Supreme Court.
Three people – the PTI MNA Ghulam Sarwar Khan, local leader Akbar Hussain Akbar and Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen leader Raja Nasir Abbas – have filed a petition through their counsel Asaf F Vardak under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution.
They have made Gilgit-Balistan Council’s chairman, principal secretary to prime minister, federation of Pakistan, Ministry of Kashmir Affair and Gilgit-Balistan and the G-B’s newly appointed CEC Justice (retd) Tahir Ali Shah as respondents in their petition.
The petitioners have requested the SC to strike down the notification regarding the appointment of Tahir Shah and to direct the respondents to appoint new CEC through the involvement of all the participant parties especially leader of the house and leader of the opposition in that assembly.
The petition says that appointment of the CEC is done through the development of consensus between the leader of house and the leader of the opposition. However, in the case of G-B the appointment has been done wholly arbitrarily and unilaterally by the prime minister, whose party holds only two seats in the G-B assembly, the petition says.
“The process of consultation that was required to be done has not been undertaken and none of other stakeholders has been taken on board and there the CEC’s appointment may be stuck down,” the petition says.
The petition has also objected that the person selected for the post is most unsuitable for it as he is committed party worker of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) – a claim which they have tried to substantiate through photographs.
“Such a committed party worker of one of the parties, participating in the elections, cannot be expected to conduct elections in a free, fair, impartial and transparent manner,” the petition says.
It says that the affection, loyalty and goodwill of the G-B’s entire population rests squarely on holding free and fair elections in that area.
“[Therefore] it will be most damaging internally and externally, nationally and internationally to conduct elections in that area, in any other manner or even for the election to appear to be absolutely, other than free, fair and impartial,” the petition says.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 14th, 2014.
As Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) prepares for elections which are to be held in March 2015, stakeholders, including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), have challenged the appointment of the G-B’s chief election commissioner (CEC) in the Supreme Court.
Three people – the PTI MNA Ghulam Sarwar Khan, local leader Akbar Hussain Akbar and Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen leader Raja Nasir Abbas – have filed a petition through their counsel Asaf F Vardak under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution.
They have made Gilgit-Balistan Council’s chairman, principal secretary to prime minister, federation of Pakistan, Ministry of Kashmir Affair and Gilgit-Balistan and the G-B’s newly appointed CEC Justice (retd) Tahir Ali Shah as respondents in their petition.
The petitioners have requested the SC to strike down the notification regarding the appointment of Tahir Shah and to direct the respondents to appoint new CEC through the involvement of all the participant parties especially leader of the house and leader of the opposition in that assembly.
The petition says that appointment of the CEC is done through the development of consensus between the leader of house and the leader of the opposition. However, in the case of G-B the appointment has been done wholly arbitrarily and unilaterally by the prime minister, whose party holds only two seats in the G-B assembly, the petition says.
“The process of consultation that was required to be done has not been undertaken and none of other stakeholders has been taken on board and there the CEC’s appointment may be stuck down,” the petition says.
The petition has also objected that the person selected for the post is most unsuitable for it as he is committed party worker of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) – a claim which they have tried to substantiate through photographs.
“Such a committed party worker of one of the parties, participating in the elections, cannot be expected to conduct elections in a free, fair, impartial and transparent manner,” the petition says.
It says that the affection, loyalty and goodwill of the G-B’s entire population rests squarely on holding free and fair elections in that area.
“[Therefore] it will be most damaging internally and externally, nationally and internationally to conduct elections in that area, in any other manner or even for the election to appear to be absolutely, other than free, fair and impartial,” the petition says.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 14th, 2014.