Saleem Baig appointed Pemra chairman

ISLAMABAD: The senior officer and Principal Information Officer of Pakistan Muhammad Saleem Baig has been appointed as chairman of Pakistan Electronic and Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) on Tuesday.

President Mamnoon Hussain has approved a summary for the appointment of Saleem Baig as the chairman Pemra on the advice of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. On the direction of Supreme Court, the three-member committee of the federal government had shortlisted candidates and Baig was on the top of the successful candidates. Muhammad Saleem Baig is an experienced officer of the Information Group and has worked as a press secretary to Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif and performed his duties on other posts too.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) sought an explanation from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting regarding the reported appointment of new chairman of Pemra, despite it had not accepted the government’s request in this contest. The ECP, in a statement, said the government has sought permission for the appointment of chairman Pemra, but the Election Commission had not granted permission and has directed the government to make the appointment after the lifting of the ban. The ECP maintained that for making the general election 2018 transparent and to provide equal opportunity to all political parties, it had banned appointments in the government institution.

While replying to the government request, the ECP contended that this extremely sensitive recruitment at a time when the announcement of general election had been made and the chairman Pemra had to take steps for equal representation to all political parties. However, the Commission noted, that the media has reported the appointment of the Pemra chairman, and they have sought an explanation from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on this count.

Meanwhile, the ECP issued a clarification with regards to a statement, attributed to its secretary that international powers wanted to sabotage the upcoming elections. It clarified that the statement was quoted out of context, as the ECP secretary had said about the overall security situation and keeping that in view, had pointed out that peaceful elections would be possible only when side by side with the ECP, all security institutions and the administration would fulfil their responsibility.

In a related development, the ECP held a meeting to review preparations for the elections and noted that on May 16, a letter was dispatched to all the chief secretaries that as the district returning officers and returning officers have started their poll-related work, all the provincial governments should provide facilities to them, including security and transport and meet shortage of the related staff.

However, information has been received from some districts of Punjab, where DROs and ROs have not been provided security and transport, for which the ECP expressed its displeasure and sought a report from the chief secretary Punjab within 24 hours. The other three provinces have ensured the provision of the desired level to the DROs and ROs for which the Election Commission has expressed its satisfaction.