Committee agrees to clip powers of president

ISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms has agreed to abolish presidential powers to appoint the Chief Election Commissioner.

Sources told Dawn that the committee, which has been reviewing the Constitution article-by-article for almost the past five months, in its meeting here on Tuesday discussed articles relating to the appointment of the CEC (Article 214 to 218).

The committee, the sources said, had also agreed to extend the term of office of the CEC from three years to five.

The committee, which met under Senator Raza Rabbani, agreed that appointment of the CEC would be made through a joint parliamentary committee, as envisaged in the Charter of Democracy.

According to clause 27 of the charter, there “shall be an independent, autonomous, and impartial election commission. The prime minister shall in consultation with leader of opposition forward up to three names for each position of chief election commissioner, members of election commission, and secretary to joint parliamentary committee, constituted on the same pattern as for appointment of judges in superior judiciary, through transparent public hearing process. In case of no consensus, both prime minister and leader of opposition shall forward separate lists to the joint parliamentary committee for consideration. Provincial election commissioner shall be appointed on the same pattern by committees of respective provincial assemblies”.

Article 214(1) of the Constitution states: “There shall be a Chief Election Commissioner who shall be appointed by the President (in his discretion).” This clause was inserted through the 8th Amendment during the regime of Gen Ziaul Haq.

The sources said the issue of the ban on becoming prime minister for the third time also came up for discussion during the meeting.

However, majority of the members said that there was no need for a constitutional amendment to do away with the ban imposed by former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf.

It was decided in the meeting that the matter could be resolved through a simpler legislation and it should not be discussed at the committee level.

Talking to a group of reporters after the meeting, Senator Rabbani refused to give any timeframe for finalising the draft package.

Mr Rabbani said that amending the Constitution was a very “complicated matter”, but the committee was working at a fast pace and whatever they had achieved was through consensus. The committee, he said, would meet again on Wednesday.

During an informal chat with reporters, Naveed Qamar criticised the PML-N for threatening to launch a ‘long march’ on the issue of the repeal of the 17th Amendment and said that the announcement of the package would be made in a matter of “days and not months”.

“Constitutional issues can only be resolved through talks and not through long marches,” he said.

Mr Qamar urged all political forces, including the PML-N, to help the government in its efforts to resolve constitutional matters quickly, adding that no one should take credit for it.

Without naming PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, the minister said everybody knew who would benefit from the lifting of embargo on becoming prime minister for the third time.

However, he said, the government was keeping an open mind and taking all democratic forces on board on all issues through consultations.

Ahsan Iqbal, PML-N spokesman and a member of the committee, said his party had been calling for an early repeal of the 17th Amendment, adding that Mr Qamar’s words were welcome and very reassuring.

He denied that his party had threatened to launch a long march over the 17th Amendment, recalling that at a press conference he had only said that his party would adopt the same strategy it had adopted during the movement for the restoration of the judiciary.

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Gilani, Nawaz discuss accountability law

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif discussed on Sunday salient features of the draft of a new accountability law which the government plans to introduce.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister’s House told Dawn that Mr Gilani called Mr Sharif for consultations on the draft.

Through the proposed law, the government plans to set up an ehtesab commission which will replace the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) constituted by former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf.

Mr Sharif told the prime minister that his party had already sent back the draft to the government and suggested some amendments.

The PML-N chief expressed the hope that the suggestions would be incorporated into the final draft and the bill would soon be tabled in parliament.

The prime minister assured Mr Sharif that the government would seriously consider PML-N’s proposals.

He said the new law would be “comprehensive in nature” and acceptable to all political parties.

Expressing the hope that the new law would help eliminate the culture of political victimisation, Mr Gilani said it had been drafted to meet future requirements.

The prime minister said he would continues with his politics of reconciliation and his government would not take any major step without consulting all the parties.

The two leaders decided to stop office-bearers and workers of their parties from issuing statements against each other.

When Mr Sharif informed the prime minister about his planned visits to Sindh and Balochistan next week, Mr Gilani asked him to help the government implement the Balochistan package.

He said the government was making all possible efforts to remove the sense of deprivation of the Baloch people.

The PML-N chief assured the prime minister that his party would help the government in its efforts to resolve the Balochistan issue, the spokesman said.

On the issue of the 17th Amendment, the prime minister said the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms would hold its meetings on a daily basis from Tuesday.

It may be recalled that the PML-N had earlier rejected the proposed Accountability Commission Bill 2009, alleging that several changes had been made to the draft after its approval in July by the parliamentary committee concerned.

The party had declared that it would not accept any loose amendment to the draft including its Clause 24 which says: “No holder of public office shall be prosecuted, after three years of the expiry of his term or of his ceasing to hold office, for an offence which he is alleged to have committed during his tenure.”

Another controversial clause stated: “No proceeding under this act shall lie against the holder of public office against anything which has been done in good faith or in pursuance of or in exercise of powers vested in him or believed to be vested in him, or intended to be done at the material time by virtue of this office.”

Earlier, talking to a group of journalists, the prime minister said: “We should have immediately implemented the CoD as it was signed by Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif. Not implementing the CoD immediately was the biggest mistake.”

He reiterated the government’s resolve to implement the charter.

The prime minister was scheduled to visit Lakki Marwat to meet the injured and the families of the victims of Friday’s suicide attack, but could not leave because of bad weather.

APP adds: The prime minister said successful military operations in Malakand and South Waziristan to curb terrorism and militancy, the Aghaz Huqooq-i-Balochistan Package, signing of the Seventh National Finance Commission (NFC) Award with consensus and the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order were major achievements of the government.

He said the government had given political ownership to the war against terrorism by mobilising public support and taking all political forces onboard.

“It is Pakistan’s own war and not a proxy war,” he said.

The prime minister said the recent series of bomb blasts and suicide attacks was a reaction to the successful military operation in South Waziristan.

“Pakistan has the ability, will and resolve to strongly fight terrorism and militancy and will be successful in eliminating this menace. But it needs support in capacity building.”

He said Pakistan was determined to fight terrorism because it had paid a heavy price in the war in the form of economic and human losses.

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