ISLAMABAD: A day after a big protest in Islamabad by the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) over alleged rigging in last year’s general elections, the government offered an all-party committee in the National Assembly on Monday to propose electoral reforms.
The offer came at the fag-end of the day’s sitting when the PTI hardly expected it after an earlier clash with the ruling PML-N — and gave no immediate response — when the Minister for Planning and Development, Ahsan Iqbal, cited political stability and continuity as an essential requirement for economic progress.
Though the minister slammed unspecified “some people playing politics on cue from (sources) known to all” and holding street demonstrations against “so-called rigging”, he said any defects in the electoral system could be removed through dialogue.
“I invite you to appoint a committee of all parties in this house — a committee on electoral reforms — so we could give people a strong democracy,” he said.
The minister did not elaborate on his suggestion, which seemed to be in response to the main demand put forth by PTI chairman Imran Khan for the constitution of a new election commission in a speech to the overnight party rally near the Parliament House to mark the first anniversary of the May 11 elections, which he says were massively rigged to deliver a victory to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N.
Mr Iqbal made the proposal while responding to a call-attention notice from four members of the opposition Jamaat-i-Islami over perceived non-development of under-developed districts, and he credited his party’s nearly one-year-old government with what he called a halt to an economic slide.
Sunday’s PTI rally, which coincided with rallies addressed in many towns across the country by the Pakistan Awami Tehreek of Allam Tahirul Qadri through a video link from Canada, figured very little during the day’s house proceedings, although PTI and PML-N lawmakers were engaged in rival desk-thumping and shouting when PTI’s Ghulam Sarwar Khan, who defeated Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan from a nearby Rawalpindi district constituency in the last elections, complained of a breach of his privilege over his suspension from the house for 10 months.
Sardar Ayaz Sadiq reserved his ruling over the issue, which he said he would deliver at “an appropriate time” and “to the best of my ability” after a long discussion during which the PTI member’s demand for referring the matter to the house’s privileges committee got support from opposition leader Khursheed Ahmed Shah of the PPP and Qaumi Watarn Party leader Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao. But he was opposed by the Minister for Kashmir Affairs, Chaudhry Birjess Tahir.
The PTI member, who traced a history of political rivalry and legal battles with Chaudhry Nisar since 2002 without naming the interior minister, said his and the house’s privilege had been breached by the National Assembly’s failure to intimate him or the Election Commission about a Supreme Court order for the suspension of his membership for allegedly possessing a fake university degree until another court bench restored him last month.
The speaker acknowledged that his secretariat received a direct intimation from the Supreme Court of its order about suspension, but said neither had the PTI member nor his party raised the matter in the house after the Supreme Court’s first order.
The member argued that the constitution did not allow a constituency to remain unrepresented for more than 120 days and asked whether he would be considered absent for 10 months due to his suspension?
Mr Birjees Tahir called it a “unique case of a fake degree” and recalled previous change of party loyalties by the PTI member, provoking protests from the other sides.
Chaudhry Nisar remained in the house but did not speak, leaving Mr Tahir to bear the brunt of the PTI anger.
A Hindu member of the ruling party, Romesh Kumar, caused a stir in the house when he protested against what he called the burning of the copies of the Hindu holy book Gita and the Sikh holy book Guru Garanth Sahib in the Shikarpur district of Sindh three days ago.
He said it was the sixth such incident in Sindh over the past six months. He also complained of allegedly forced conversions of young Hindu girls to be married off to Muslims. Excesses had forced about 5,000 Hindus to leave Pakistan every year, he added.
Pakhtunkhawa Milli Awami Party chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai, a government ally, lent strong support to Mr Kumar’s demand for a debate on the matter as he also proposed that the house pass joint resolutions to condemn activities against minority communities. He also called for a probe into the May 12, 2007, massacre of more than 40 people in shootouts in Karachi during a visit by the then suspended chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
No resolution came, though Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmed later told the house that the ruling party would have supported it. He called the May 12, 2007, incident as a “back day” in Pakistan’s history.
The minister of state also assured the house earlier that the federal government would do its utmost and would also ask the provincial governments to ensure protection of the rights of minorities as guaranteed in the constitution and guard against any excesses.