PTI objects to makeup of electoral reforms committee
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry asked for five PTI nominees, but the party says 15 government members against five from the opposition is no basis for balance.
ISLAMABAD: The government's effort to set up a parliamentary committee on electoral reform ran into an early obstacle on Tuesday when Pakistan Tehreek-Insaf objected to the proposed composition, saying a body dominated by government members leaves the opposition no meaningful role.
Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhry contacted PTI chief whip Amir Dogar and asked for the names of five party members to sit on the committee, Business Recorder reported.
Dogar objected to the proposed strength. With 15 government members against five from the opposition, he said, there would be little room for a balanced discussion. He asked the government to revisit the composition of the electoral reforms committee that existed between 2013 and 2018 and study its structure before finalising a new arrangement.
Dogar also questioned the point of holding talks on electoral reform while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and several other PTI leaders are in detention, and around a dozen party lawmakers are either in jail or facing arrest.
On the government side, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz is weighing a reduction in its own share of the committee to accommodate its coalition partners. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wants all allied parties on board, and consultations are under way to ensure representation for the Pakistan Peoples Party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and other partners.
PML-N may scale back its representation in proportion to its strength in parliament. The proposed arrangement could include one National Assembly member each from the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Zia. With those adjustments, PML-N's representation from the National Assembly on the committee is expected to fall below nine members.
Dawn, in an editorial on the reform exercise, said the committee is being constituted by the National Assembly Speaker and that the existing legal framework appears sound. The Election Commission of Pakistan already has constitutional protection, financial autonomy and a bipartisan process for appointing its leadership, the paper said, yet past reform exercises have not produced a credible election. Legislators should first ask why the laws already on the books keep failing, it said.
How the reports differ
Business Recorder reported the composition dispute in full, naming Tariq Fazal Chaudhry and Amir Dogar and the 15-to-five split the PTI rejected. Dawn's coverage of the same subject was editorial rather than reported: it argued the existing legal framework and the Election Commission's protections are already sound and that past reform exercises failed to deliver a credible election. Dawn alone said the committee is being constituted by the National Assembly Speaker; Business Recorder's report did not mention the Speaker.
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