Speakers at a meeting of the Shura Hamdard Karachi chapter unanimously urged the government to utilise the services of teachers and students of 130 universities of the country in order to establish the authenticity of lists of voters which is very essential for clean and transparent general elections.
The meeting held on the “Importance of authentic lists of voters and election of honest candidates in general elections” was presided over by former chief justice of the Federal Shariat Court, Haziquel Khairi.
Speaking on the occasion, Hamdard University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Nasim A Khan said that if the checking and scrutinising of voters lists is done by universities’ teachers and students, it would definitely make them authentic.
”This work should be started from Karachi’s 27 universities and if 1,000 students and teachers are taken from each university, the number would go to 27,000 people and if one person checks the papers of 20 voters daily, the checking of 900,000 voters would be completed in around six months,” he said.
“In the same manner, the work of checking of all lists of the country would also be finalised in one and a quarter of a year with the help of the remaining 103 universities as this is the only way to get reliable lists of voters. If needed, the number of students could be increased.”
Khan also suggested that likeminded political parties should form a coalition before the elections to avoid political concessions against their principles in making a government after the general elections.
Haq Nawaz Akhtar, former chairman of the Pakistan Steel Mills, suggested that an institute for social economic and political research be formed in which teachers and students of universities be included to scrutinise the voter lists for transparent elections.
Justice (retd) Haziqul Khairi said that the only way to make general elections free and transparent was to make the Election Commission a powerful, independent and complete autonomous body.
Mahdi Masud, former diplomat, said that with help of an independent Election Commission and the cooperation of political parties, the judiciary and the law enforcement agencies, a mechanism should be put in place which should ensure that a financial limit is strictly adhered to in an election campaign. Intimidation and pressure should not be used against voters in rural or urban areas and enforceable legal framework all negative appeals, based on caste, baradari system, provincialism, ethnicity and sectarianism should strictly be prohibited.
Prof. Dr Akhlaque Ahmed, former pro vice chancellor of the University of Karachi, proposed making a council in each district to scrutinise the voter lists on district level.
