The passage of 20th amendment unanimously by government and opposition has once again achieved a landmark in the history of our parliament. Despite having a clear ideological and political divide, our political leadership stands united for strengthening the democracy; this can rightly be termed as essence of democracy. Parliament has once again managed to defy its critics and produced a consensus on the 20th amendment.
According to the amendment, appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and the four provincial members of the ECP will be done after reaching a consensus on their names with the opposition leader. Their tenure has also been increased to five years. These measures would ensure independence, impartiality and credibility of the ECP and strengthen its setup. The framework laid out by the 20th amendment also seeks the appointment of a caretaker Prime Minister and Chief Ministers in consultation with the opposition leader in the assembly. The mechanism formulated after negotiations empowers a parliamentary committee comprising 6 members from Treasury and Opposition benches on parity basis to decide the names of the PM and CMs.
If the PM/CM and opposition leader fail to nominate one with consensus, the commission will forward the list of nominees to the ECP, which will make the final appointments to form a caretaker government setup before the elections. Of course, transparent procedure would enhance the neutrality of caretaker setup. The PM while commenting on the amendment said that the amendment guarantees that future caretaker governments would be impartial, neutral and would ensure free and fair elections in the future. Opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that perhaps not a single election commission in the world had so many powers as they were going to give to that election commission.
It also validated the 28 by-elections conducted by a constitutionally incomplete Election Commission. All these clauses are meant to strengthen democracy as a system of governance in the country. The Upper House has also passed the 20th amendment bill by more than a two-third majority. After the assent of president, it would become Act.
The passage of 20th amendment is a manifestation of PPP’s policy. President Asif Ali Zardari, earlier through 18th amendment, surrendered his presidential powers to the parliament for the greater interest of the nation and parliamentary democracy and now he has shown again how much his party and its government are interested in holding free and fair election under a neutral caretaker setup. We should also appreciate our opposition political parties, especially PML(N), which has contributed a lot in the process of such amendments.
This is a victory for the democracy and a mature and promising step taken by political leadership. It has paved the way for a strong democracy and free, fair and transparent elections in the future. One can hope that the future elections which are around the corner will be the most fair and transparent in the history of Pakistan paving the way for peaceful smooth transition of power.
All political stakeholders should also reach on consensus on resolving issues and making a consensual policy to tackle with problems like terrorism, energy crisis, price hike and other issues confronting Pakistan, so that general masses could get more relief and Pakistan could become prosperous and developed country in the comity of nations.
A Z KALHORA
Lahore