ECP appointments: IHC directs NA speaker, Senate chairman to resolve matter in 10 days
ECP appointments: IHC directs NA speaker, Senate chairman to resolve matter in 10 days
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday has directed National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser and Sentae Chairman Sadiq Sanjarani to resolve the matter pertaining to appointments of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) members in ten days.
During the hearing, Chief Justice of IHC has remarked that the Parliament holds supreme power and it will wrap up this issue.
Earlier, the parliamentary committee had deferred the issue following theoath of senior member Justice retired Altaf Ibrahim as acting Chief Election Commissioner (CEC).
Amid deadlock between opposition and federal government, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had recommended three names of current ECP secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad, Fazal Abbas Maken and Arif Khan for CEC post.
Later, PM Office had raised objections on the names recommended by opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif for the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner. The suggested names were Nasir Mehmood Khosa, Jalil Abbas Jilani and Akhlaq Ahmed Tarar.
Jaleel Abbas Jilani remained principal secretary of former premier Nawaz Sharif and worked as chief secretary Punjab under CM Shehbaz Sharif.
Nasir Mehmood Khosa is considered close to Sharif family and Akhlaq Tarar has also worked as federal secretary.
The letter by PML-N president also comprised three names each from Sindh and Balochistan for their nominations as the ECP members. From Sindh, the opposition leader had recommended Nisar Durrani, Justice (retd) Abdul Rasul Memon and Aurangzeb Haq.
The names of Advocate Supreme Court Shah Muhammad Jatoi, former advocate general Muhammad Rauf Atta and Rahila Durrani were also proposed from Balochistan.
The government and the opposition forwarded their nominations for appointment of ECP members to Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser and chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjarani, who then forwarded it to the parliamentary committee for consideration.
