ISLAMABAD: The controversy over the formation of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) deepened further on Tuesday, as the treasury and opposition members in the Senate rejected the nominations for the parliamentary committee to be constituted under Article 175A for the appointment of judges.
Except the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), members belonging to other parties joined hands to reject the nominations of PML-Q chief Chauhdry Shujaat Hussain and leader of the opposition Wasim Sajjad, as well as the nomination of PPP’s Leader of the House Nayyar Bokhari and Kazim Khan.
The senators said neither the leader of the House nor the opposition leader consulted other political parties in the Upper House on the issue.
They disowned the nominations, saying they were parties’ decisions, not of the treasury and the opposition as was the original intent of the constitution.
Nayyar Bokhari had nominated himself and Senator Kazim Khan and Senator Wasim Sajjad had nominated himself and Shujaat Hussain for the parliamentary committee. Speaking on a point of order, Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Senator Babar Ghauri said that his party was not consulted in the process of nominations.
He described the nominations PPP’s own, not from the treasury as a whole. He said no one discussed the issue with his party, let alone considering MQM’s preferences. Haji Adeel of the Awami National Party said all nominees from the Senate belonged to Punjab, adding that the nominations should reflect consensus and representation of all the provinces.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) Senator Abdul Ghafoor Haideri also rejected the nominations, saying provinces other than Punjab had been ignored in the process. Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) Senator Professor Khurshid Ahmed also expressed dismay over being ignored in the consultation process and said that the nominations should reflect all political parties sitting on the opposition benches.
However, Senate Chairman Farooq Naik expressed ignorance about the matter, saying the chairman had no role to play in the nomination process. According to Article 175A (clause 10), of the eight members of the committee, four shall be from the treasury benches, two from each House, and four from the opposition benches, two from each House.
The nomination of members from treasury benches shall be made by the leader of the House and the leader of the opposition shall make the nominations from the opposition benches.
