Nisar proposes joint session over NADRA chief’s issue

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has dispatched a letter to the parliamentary leaders, proposing a joint session of the parliament over the issues pertaining to sacking of NADRA chairman and verification of thumb impressions.
In the letter, he has said that there is a debate going on over thumb impressions on ballot papers, adding that usage of magnetic ink could not be ensured in 2013 general elections.
Nisar said that linking changes in NADRA with the issue of thumb impressions in general elections is not correct. He said provision of magnetic ink was the responsibility of the Election Commission and the interim government.
The minister said that NADRA is not a “one-man authority”, adding that there are a number of competent, honest and determined people in the institution.
The government is ready to have verification of votes on all constituencies from any institution, he added.
According to a private TV channel, the minister has invited Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Justice Wajihuddin to oversee the verification of thumbprints on votes to dispel rumours that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was attempting to manipulate verification results.
He said the elections were not conducted by PML-N officials but by the Election Commission of Pakistan and caretaker ministers who mostly consisted of Pakistan People’s Party representatives.
In an attempt to clear the name of the PML-N in this matter, he has placed the ball in the opposition’s court.
The PML-N government is currently being accused by many members of the opposition for sacking NADRA Chairman Tariq Malik in a bid to tamper with the verification process.
Malik was sacked and then within a few hours, reinstated by the Islamabad High Court on December 3.
Malik’s sacking came only days after an election tribunal asked NADRA to verify the thumb impressions of voters from the Lahore constituency NA-118, won by PML-N candidate Malik Riaz.