Islamabad :
After a seven-week wait for opposition parties to nominate members for the Special Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser called for a five-member committee comprising members of the federal cabinet to include the opposition. ‘Created.
According to a statement from the National Assembly Secretariat, the parliamentary committee formed by the Speaker includes Defense Minister Pervez Khattak, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister. Malik Amir Dogar is involved in political affairs.
Immediately after the announcement, two main opposition parties, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), rejected the speaker’s decision, saying they had no plans to form a committee without the approval of the House. They have no right or authority, they have no confidence in the Speaker as well as the ruling party PTI and its government.
Talking to Dawn, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, senior vice-president of PML-N, said, “Maybe the speaker does not know the rules. He has no authority to do so. It is the job of the parliament, apart from the standing committees.” Any committee is formed with the approval of the House.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi called on the government to first state its real intentions and issue a policy statement on the floor of the House on electoral reforms so that members are allowed a full debate before enacting any legislation.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi categorically rejected the speaker’s move, saying, “We do not trust the speaker as well as the government. They have failed to win our trust.”
Referring to the official handout of the National Assembly Secretariat on declaring the five-member committee of ministers a parliamentary committee, he asked, “How can it be called a parliamentary committee when no such resolution has been passed by the assembly?” can go?’
On the other hand, PPP Secretary General Farhatullah Babar, when contacted, rejected the Speaker’s move, saying that he could not trust the government on any issue, given its track record.
Expressing doubts over the government’s intentions for electoral reform, Farhatullah Babar said, “The real issue of electoral reform is to form and break political parties, forcing political alliances like the Islamic Democratic Alliance (IJA) in the past.” “They were chased away by stealing people’s mandates and eventually manipulating them.”
Farhatullah Babar said, “Imran Khan’s elected and hybrid government is itself a product of political engineering and manipulation and therefore is unable to resolve these issues.” He was not serious about getting involved in the debate in any way, he said bluntly, “The offer of talks is just for show, the PPP rejects it.”
Earlier, the National Assembly Secretariat issued a handout stating that the Speaker had constituted a five-member parliamentary committee to advance the electoral reform agenda and seek the consensus of the opposition.
He formed the committee after a letter from Prime Minister Imran Khan to the Speaker of the Assembly asking him to start work on electoral reforms with the formation of a parliamentary committee.
In a brief statement, the Speaker remarked that electoral reforms are necessary to win the confidence of the people in the electoral process.
He said that completing the electoral reform process before the next elections would ensure transparency and fairness.
On March 18, the speaker sent letters to parliamentary leaders of all parties asking them to nominate members of a special parliamentary committee on electoral reform.
The letter said the committee was committed to establishing a credible and transparent electoral system in the interest of democracy in Pakistan and ensuring parliamentary democracy and transparent, fair and free elections at all levels in the interest of democracy. Is being set up to make.
On April 1, the opposition blocked the government’s move to introduce a resolution in the National Assembly to authorize the speaker to form a parliamentary committee on electoral reform.
