Bilawal asks Shehbaz to come out on streets to motivate public

ISLAMABAD: The PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday telephoned Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and the two spoke about appointments to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) vacant posts, political issues and other matters.

Sources said Bilawal told Shehbaz that he was the opposition leader, and he must come out and mobilise people. Two seats of the ECP — one each from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — fell vacant due to the members retiring on July 26.

According to the PMLN, the two leaders discussed the ECP appointments and agreed that they will proceed forward together on the matter with consultations.

Meanwhile, the PPP, which also issued a statement following the meeting, said that the two, besides the appointment of the ECP members, also discussed the overall political situation in the country.

According sources, the opposition has decided to put up a united front on the matter of ECP appointments. Sources said the deliberations were held between Bilawal and Shehbaz over three candidates proposed by Prime Minister Imran Khan for Punjab and KP each. For Punjab, a discussion was held to consider candidates Ahsan Mehboob, Raja Aamir Khan and Syed Pervaiz Abbas. For Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, deliberations revolved around candidates Justice (retd) Ikramullah Khan, Faridullah Khan and Muzammil Khan.

Bilawal and Shehbaz also agreed to "go to whatever extent it takes" to oppose the government's proposed Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA), the sources said. The opposition agreed to have a joint stance on President Arif Alvi's speech during a joint session of the parliament that kicks off its fourth year.

As per Constitution, the prime minister is required to initiate consultations with the leader of the opposition for jointly recommending a panel of three consensus nominees per vacancy in the ECP for confirmation of one of them by a parliamentary committee.

And if both — prime minister and opposition leader — not agree on any name then their lists of nominees are to be sent to Parliamentary Committee on Appointments in Election Commission of Pakistan, which have equal representation from treasury and opposition, to pick one nominee for vacant post.

The contact between the two opposition leaders comes amid a rift in the opposition's Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance that the PPP quit in April this year, along with another member, the Awami National Party (ANP).

While Shehbaz has indicated a desire to see both parties come back into the PDM fold, PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has moved from a similar sentiment to recently declare PPP as "back-stabbers". The PPP chairman, in response, said "we trusted many friends but all of them cheated us".