ISLAMABAD: Delays in the formation of a Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms is making it difficult for the government to pacify the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf which has planned a march on Islamabad on August 14.
National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq is yet to notify the formation of the proposed 33-member committee because he is still waiting for names from the Senate. According to officials of the National Assembly and the Senate secretariats, Senate Chairman Nayyar Bokhari had asked the parties having representation in the upper house to submit names of their members by July 24 which he would forward to the speaker.
The officials believe that it is unlikely that the committee will be able to start functioning before Eid holidays. Moreover, sources said that the committee’s working could be further delayed even after its notification since no understanding had been reached between the government and the opposition on the name of its chairman.
A senior opposition leader, who is privy to behind-the-scene moves on the issue, claimed that the government was considering appointing Minister for Science and Technology Zahid Hamid as head of the committee.
But, he said that Hamid would not be acceptable to most of the opposition parties which considered him a controversial person because of the fact that he was the law minister when retired Gen Pervez Musharraf imposed an emergency in the country in 2007.
Internews
