ISLAMABAD – Agreeing to the prime minister’s proposal of appointing Attaur Rehman, former tourism minister as a representative of the treasury benches in the parliamentary committee on the constitution of a neutral and independent Election Commission, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) is showing signs of softening its stance towards the Pakistan People’s Party-led government.
According to a source, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani telephoned JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman before nominating his brother Attaur Rehman. “The prime minister told Fazl that he wanted to nominate Atta from the treasury benches as member of the committee to constitute the ECP and he gave his consent in this regard,” the source said.
JUI-F had parted ways with the coalition government after PM had fired Azam Swati as Federal Minister for Information Technology in mid-December last year, followed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement who later rejoined the government. Political observers had been predicting that JUI-F wanted to rejoin the government and was looking for some appropriate time and excuse for the same as it did while quitting the government.
JUI-F’s consent that Atta would be the member of the committee from treasury side is a clear indication that the Fazl-led party would rejoin the government in the coming days. The other names forwarded by the PM to the NA speaker include Syed Khurshid Shah, Dr Farooq Sattar and Munir Orakzai. Two members appointed for the committee from Senate treasury side include Islam-ud-Din Sheikh and Haji Adeel. The speaker is authorized to set up the 12-member parliamentary committee under Article 213 (2-B) of the Constitution to appoint four judges at the ECP. The treasury and opposition shall be equally represented in the 12-member committee. Eight members shall be drawn from the National Assembly while four from the Senate.
NA Speaker Dr Fahmida Mirza, in accordance with the constitutional powers vested in her, had invited the government and opposition’s nominations to set up the parliamentary committee to constitute ECP as provided in the 18th Amendment.
It may be recalled that the Election Commission has been incomplete since the last elections held in 2008 and only the chief election commissioner had been in the office. One judge from each province is to be appointed in the Election Commission.
