How Raja was appointed CEC

ISLAMABAD: He was out of service for a couple of months spending a retired life in Lahore when Sikandar Sultan Raja received a call from the federal capital. The person on the other side was his former batch-mate.

“Prime Minister will nominate you for the post of Chief Election Commissioner,” the batch-mate informed Raja. This was the time when the government and the opposition had failed to explore a consensus on a candidate for this constitutional post. Raja couldn’t believe his words. “How credible is this news,” asked Raja to determine the veracity of that news.

His batch-mate shared the source. The source had learned this from a minister who had come to know from the Prime Minister Imran Khan. Conversation ended there without any follow-up. Raja was first approached only after the bi-partisan consensus was forged in his name during the meeting of the parliamentary committee, according to a person close to Raja. His name was floated by the government and agreed by the opposition.

Now, as he started asserting being Chief Election Commissioner, the government has faced the first-ever opposition from within the system. The Election Commission of Pakistan’s opposition on open ballot for Senate elections, declaring Daska elections void and refusing to disqualify Senator-elect Yusuf Raza Gilani didn’t go well with the government. Consequently, the blame game started. Initially, rumour mills ran high through WhatsApp messages alleging that he together with his spouse are Canadian nationals therefore demanding a reference against him. It turned out to be false. Twitter's trends were run against him.

When nothing worked, his being son-law of Saeed Mehdi was presented as another source of disqualification because he had served with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during his second tenure as principal secretary. Nobody in the government informed the ignorant trolls that Saeed Mehdi’s friendship with Imran Khan is decades old when he used to live in Zaman Park, Lahore, in the neighborhood of Imran Khan. His first appointment as deputy commissioner was of Mianwali. He was also pictured meeting with PM and Army Chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa at the former’s office in early 2019. He’s among those few folks Imran Khan would call as “Saeed Bhai” unlike his style of addressing by the first name.

Also, had there been any mistrust, PM wouldn’t have appointed Saeed Mehdi’s son at two key positions in Islamabad much like Fawad Hassan Fawad’s brother as the Special Assistant to PM, Hassan Rauf. Fawad was principal secretary to PM Nawaz Sharif during his third term who also served at this position during the premiership of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. Although Federal Minister Asad Umar is the brother of Muhammad Zubair, spokesman of Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz, his loyalty has not come under question on the kinship basis.

It however appears that Raja isn’t being targeted for his relationship with Saeed Mehdi but for the decisions he is making. In a press conference held Monday addressed by as many as five federal ministers, it was demanded that the Chief Election Commissioner and all four members must resign because they were not ‘neutral’. One minister missing from the presser was Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. Had he been there, he would have vouched for the integrity of Raja much like he did at the time of his retirement.

Raja’s last assignment in the government service was as Secretary Railway. Sheikh was his minister by that time. As Raja was close to retirement, the minister wrote a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan. In it, he described Raja as a “diligent, focused, honest and extremely hardworking officer who has been an invaluable asset.” He has been working on very important positions, the minister continued, and has always delivered. “He has an unblemished career and an honest, pious and efficient officer, a rare combination of qualities available among officers these days,” Sheikh wrote to the PM in lavish praise for Raja. The minister further wrote that while he wished to retain him as secretary after retirement but if this was not administratively possible, “I personally request and strongly recommend him for a post of Member Federal Public Service Commission or as head of any autonomous federal organization. In Shaa Allah, he shall prove his worth in any such assignment.”