Aitzaz Ahsan likely to lead parliamentary panel

The government has decided in principle to appoint Aitzaz Ahsan, the counsel for Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani in contempt case, as Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Judges Appointment.
Earlier, the prime minister had nominated Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, a member of the prestigious parliamentary panel designated to appoint judges of superior courts.
Reliable sources close to the primer told Online that after inducting his counsel’s name in the parliamentary committee, the prime minister has decided to appoint him as the Chairman of the powerful committee.
“Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani is likely to formally announce the decision next week,” the sources claimed.
They elucidated that the prime minister took the decision following his consultations with President Asif Ali Zardari, Chairman Nayyer Hussain Bokhari and party’s others stalwarts.
“The president is quite pleased with Aitzaz and suggested to the prime minister to appoint his attorney as chairman of the committee,” the sources added.
The sources maintained that the move to bring Aitzaz as the Chairman of the committee was a bid to put the apex court in stress when he was pleading the important case of the prime minister.
Meanwhile, a PPP stalwart told Online that the prime minister is also happy with his counsel and the way he is pleading his case before the seven-member larger bench of the apex court.
“Aitzaz has proved that he is actual ‘Jiala’ of Peoples Party,” the stalwart quoted the prime minister as saying.
The committee has mandate in the appointment, confirmation, or rejection of names forwarded by the judicial commission headed by the chief justice.
The slot of the Chairmanship in the committee fell vacant after Senator Nayyer Hussain Bokhari, had resigned following his elevation to the post of Senate Chairman.
The eight-member prestigious parliamentary panel consists of Pakistan Peoples Party’s Aitzaz Ahsan , Aftab Shaaban Mirani and Asma Arbab Alamgir; the PML-N’s Ishaq Dar, Sardar Mehtab Abbasi and Khwaja Asif; PML-Quaid’s Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and JUI-F’s Mulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri.
The parliamentary committee would be reshaped for the second time after its initiation. It was first reformed at the time when the PML-Q joined the ruling party as an ally.