The transparency of the upcoming elections have been put to question as interim government led by Prime Minister Khoso is not cooperating with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
According to a local newspaper, the chairman and members of the ECP feel frustrated as the caretaker government is not paying any heed to the ECP’s directions.
Sources said that the commission was deeply disappointed with the caretaker government as the ECP’s directions, instead of being followed, were being disregarded.
The commission members in their discussion regretted that the caretaker prime minister had not made the administrative changes as directed by the ECP.
Extremely upset over the appointment of Chief Secretary Punjab Nasir Khosa as finance secretary instead of posting him as chief secretary Sindh, the commission lamented that the reputed officer had not been made the administrative head of the troubled Sindh province despite his well-known neutrality, competence and integrity.
However, the commission, the sources said, has refused to accept Khosa’s appointment as secretary finance and has now asked the government to post him as chief secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The commission member from Sindh told his fellow members that Khosa’s nomination for the office of chief secretary Sindh had upset many in the Sindh province, where the bureaucracy generally remained politicised and favourable to the two leading parties — Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM). After having failed to get Khosa appointed from Hazar Khan Khoso, who was the choice of the ECP for the slot of interim prime minister, the commission now wants the government to appoint the incumbent KP Chief Secretary Ghulam Dastagir Khan as chief secretary Sindh.
The commission does not want the incumbent Chief Secretary Sindh Raja Muhammad Abbas to continue, fearing that in his presence the administration’s neutrality cannot be ensured for holding of fair, free and independent elections.
The sources said that one major reason for the commission’s doubts about the caretaker prime minister is the continuation of Ashraf Wathra as the deputy governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). Several days back, the commission sought his removal but the Khoso government did not follow the ECP’s direction.
The ECP sources said the commission members now really feel a sense of hopelessness. “We are not empowered to make such transfers,” a source said, adding that in its legislative bill, the ECP had sought empowerment in regard to any kind of changes to be made in the administrative machinery. However, the legislative bill was ignored both by the last government and the last parliament. And even now neither the interim government is empowering the ECP with such powers to transfer, suspend and change any officer, including provincial chief secretaries and inspector generals, by promulgating an ordinance nor is it making the changes of senior officials as required by the commission.
