Parliamentary body meets today to select ECP members, CEC

ISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Committee on Appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and Members of the Election Commission of Pakistan will hold its meeting today (Wednesday) to consider the names for the Chief Election Commissioner and two members for the ECP from Sindh and Balochistan.

The government has forwarded the names of Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad along with two retired bureaucrats Fazal Abass Mekan and Muhammad Arif while the opposition has proposed the names of the Nasir Khosa, Ikhlaq Tarar and Jalil Abass Jilan for the post of Chief Election Commissioner.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has proposed the names of Justice (R) Sadiq Bhatti, Justice (R) Noorul Haq Qureshi and Abdul Jabbar Qureshi from Sindh for the post of member ECP and he proposed the names of Dr Faiz Muhammad Kakar, Mir Naveed Baloch and Amanullah Baloch for the member of the ECP from Balochistan.

Opposition leader in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif has proposed the names of Nisar Durrani, Justice (R) Abdul Rasool Memon and Aurangzeb Haq from ECP member from Sindh and Shah Mehmood Jatoi Advocate, Rauf Atta and Ex-Speaker Balochistan Assembly Rahila Durrani as member of the ECP from Balochistan.

Chairperson of Parliamentary Committee on Appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and Members of the Election Commission of Pakistan and Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari had told the media after the previous meeting of the committee on December 4 that consensus has been evolved between the government and opposition on the names of members ECP form Sindh and Balochistan and one from the government and other from the opposition.

The Parliamentary Committee evolved a consensus on the name of Naveed Baloch from Balochistan proposed by Prime Minister Imran Khan while other will be selected from the list of opposition from Sindh on which the PPP and PML-N have differences.

Though the government and opposition have prepared the panel of three names each for the post of the Chief Election Commissioner yet the real contest between the government nominated Secretary ECP Babar Fateh Muhammad, opposition’s nominee Nasir Khosa and both the officers were known as a capable officers and both belong to Pakistan Administrative Services.

Nasir Khosa had served Punjab and Balochistan as Chief Secretary and also as a Principal Secretary to Prime Minister.

The government and opposition have already completed their internal consultation on the name of Chief Election Commissioner and it is expected to finalize the names of two members of ECP.

Opposition nominee Nasir Khosa had also served as Pakistan’s Executive Director in the World Bank and in the previous election he was proposed by the PML-N for the post of caretaker Chief Minister Punjab but Imran Khan rejected his name due to his closeness with the PML-N.

While Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad has rendered his services in Balochistan, Punjab, Gilgit Baltistan and Federal government in different departments.

During his tenure as a Chief Secretary Gilgit Baltistan, the elections were held in Gilgit Baltistan and on his proposal the powers of the Chief Secretary were shifted to Chief Minister Gilgit Baltistan.

He also served as a Chief Secretary Balochistan and that time there was only symbolic writ of the government and district officers were restricted to only Quetta.

Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhmmad survived thrice terrorists’ attacks but he not only continued his provincial tours in line of official duty but also issued directives to his subordinate officers to stay at divisional and district level that help to strengthen the government writ as well to weaken the separatist elements in the province.

He was appointed Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan during the PML-N tenure and

during the general elections in 2018 the PTI awarded party ticket to contest National Assembly seat to his younger brother and to keep his position independent and neutral he forced his brother to withdraw his candidature from the elections.