ISLAMABAD – With the Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam (JUI-F) in search of its status in the Parliament – either to join the treasury or the opposition – Speaker National Assembly (NA) Dr Fehmida Mirza finds herself in a difficult position about announcing the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for the constitution of an independent Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The proposed committee, under Article 213 of the Constitution after the passage of 18th Amendment, shall comprise equal number of members from the treasury and the opposition parties, based on their strength in the Parliament, to be nominated by the respective parliamentary leaders.
The respective parliamentary parties leaders from both houses of the Parliament have recommended the names of their representatives except the JUI-F which is unable to do so due to delay in allotment of seats by the speaker NA and the chairman Senate on the opposition benches on the applications forwarded by the party after it parted ways with the government on December 14.
The government has recommended the names of four MNAs including Syed Khursheed Shah, Dr Farooq Sattar, Muneer Khan Orakzai and Arif Aziz Sheikh and two Senators, Islamuddin Sheikh and Haji Muhammad Adeel. From the opposition side, PML-N nominated Khawaja Asif, Abdul Qadir Baloch and Tehmina Daultana from the NA besides Raja Zafarul Haq from the Senate while PML-Q’s MNA Amir Muqqam and Senator Haroon Akhtar are also among the list.
A source in the National Assembly told Pakistan Today that Fehmida was in a fix on the issue with the apprehension that after joining the opposition, particularly in the Senate where the JUI-F enjoyed greater numerical strength (12) than the PML-N (6), Maulana Fazl’s party could challenge the constitution of the committee claiming that it enjoyed a constitutional right to have representation from the opposition benches in the Senate.
JUI-F Senator Dr Ismail Buledi said, “As we have greater numerical strength than the PML-N; therefore, the JUI-F’s senator should be included in the JPC from the opposition benches instead of the PML-N.” It is worth mentioning that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had proposed the name of JUI-F’s Attaur Rehman as representative of the treasury benches in the JPC last month but later on his name was withdrawn after a strong reaction by the JUI-F.
An official of the National Assembly said the speaker would sort out the issue on Monday (today) and if the controversy pertaining to the JUI-F’s parliamentary status was resolved, the notification would be issued before the expiry of PML-N’s deadline for the implementation of its 10-point agenda, which also contained the demand of formation of an independent ECP.
