Gloves off: Qaiser, Farman spar over LG polls resolution

Minister accuses K-P speaker of carrying a soft spot for opposition

PESHAWAR:

The atmosphere among the treasury’s ranks was tense during Thursday’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly session as a minister accused Speaker Asad Qaiser of being inclined towards the opposition.

Minister for Public Health Engineering Shah Farman had a mild verbal sparring session with the speaker as the house discussed a resolution related to the local government elections.



Speaker Asad Qaiser allowed an opposition lawmaker to proceed with a resolution related to LG elections despite Farman’s request to defer the matter to the next day. The move infuriated the minister who lashed out at Qaiser.

“The speaker should be neutral, but it seems as if the opposition has elected him,” Farman quipped. As the minister continued with his tirade, the speaker cut him short and reminded the house of his own status in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. “I am the senior-most member of the party,” said Qaiser. He added all stakeholders, including Farman, had been consulted over the particular resolution.

The issue was initially raised by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl lawmaker from Battagram, Shah Hussain Khan, who on a point of order drew the attention of MPAs towards possible rigging in the LG polls which are scheduled for May 30.

Seven at a time

Hussain told lawmakers that polls were being held under the watch of the administrative machinery which could be manipulated by the ruling party.
He asked that the government conduct polls under the judiciary’s supervision

He also asked that LG polls be held in two phases, saying it would be difficult for voters to stamp seven ballot papers at the same time. He believed the exercise would be time consuming and complicated.

Opposition lawmakers, including Qaumi Watan Party’s Sikandar Sherpao, Awami National Party’s Syed Jaffer Shah and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Raja Faisal Zaman agreed with Hussain’s suggestion of holding LG polls under the supervision of the judiciary. They said elections under the administrative machinery would have transparency issues.

However, most opposition members opposed Hussain’s proposal to hold elections in two phases due to the costs involved, even as the government seemingly concurred with both his suggestions. Shah Farman agreed with opposition lawmakers but said if the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) cannot manage, then LG polls could be held in two phases.

Minister for Local Government Inayatullah Khan, siding with the opposition lawmakers, said he personally thinks the judiciary should supervise polls. However, Inayatullah was of the opinion that the judiciary was reluctant to oversee the election process.

He said that since the issue has been raised before the house, a joint resolution could be presented.

Speaker Asad Qaiser asked Hussain to proceed with the resolution asking to hold elections under judicial supervision. He asked Farman to talk to other opposition leaders to forge a consensus for another resolution asking for polls to be held in two phases.

However, Farman insisted on clubbing both documents together and presenting a combined resolution to the house the following day. However, the speaker paid no attention to his suggestion and asked Hussain to go ahead with the resolution on judicial oversight which was unanimously passed by the house.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 17^th, 2015.