Many things are happening for the first time in Pakistan and the inexperience of handling new situations is leading to certain pre-poll problems. The Pakistan People’s Party-led coalition government completed its five-year tenure for the second time since 1977 but the National Assembly completed its term for the first time. Now that the electorate is preparing to vote for their 14th National Assembly, the question of the caretaker set-up is developing into a deadlock because both the government and the opposition are not giving room to each other.The same is the case with the wish for the dissolution of provincial assemblies on the same day as the government and the opposition are stuck to their stance of rejecting each other’s nominees. The situation regarding holding the elections to the national and provincial legislatures on the same date because the opposition is not agreeing to this federal government’s proposal.
After the dissolution of the National Assembly on Saturday night, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and the Leader of the Opposition, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, have another three days to reach an agreement on the caretaker prime minister.
The two talked to each other by telephone on Friday but there was no formal contact between them or their representatives on Saturday. The prime minister also held a meeting with the four chief ministers on Saturday afternoon to convince them for holding the NA and PA polls on the same day. The objective of the meeting was to make a last-ditch effort to reach consensus on the issues of appointment of the caretaker set-ups and holding of general elections all over the country on the same day. There seems to be differences on these issues; although. the prime minister’s house said that the chief ministers had “agreed in principle that the elections of national and provincial assemblies will be held in the country on the same day for logistical, administrative and financial reasons, which would also promote political harmony in the country”. The official statement, however, did not mention the date on which all the provincial assemblies would be dissolved, indicating that the participants had failed to reach an understanding on simultaneous dissolution of the assemblies. The effort was also made by Prime Minister Ashraf to reach a consensus when he later had a one-to-one meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif but this did not work either.
The PML-N took the position that although it desired that the elections for the national and provincial assemblies should be held on the same day, Shahbaz Sharif had given no commitment to the prime minister that the Punjab Assembly would be dissolved simultaneously with other three provincial assemblies. When Balochistan Chief Minister Aslam Raisani was quoted by electronic media as stating that all the provincial assemblies would be dissolved on March 19, Mr Sharif immediately responded denying such a decision having taken place. Chaudhry Nisar was even more categorical in elaborating that the Punjab Assembly “will not be dissolved on March 16 if the government continues to play tricks in Sindh and Balochistan”. The Punjab Assembly would be dissolved on March 16 only if a consensus on the caretaker set-ups (in all provinces) was reached before time, otherwise, it would complete its constitutional term ending in April, Nisar added.
The establishment of a caretaker set-up at the federal level proved even trickier than other issues because both the government and the opposition were poles apart from accepting each other’s nominees. The government’s nominees for the caretaker prime minister were former finance minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, former State Bank governor Dr Ishrat Husain and Justice (retd) Mir Hazar Khan Khoso. The opposition put forward the names of Justice (retd) Nasir Aslam Zahid and Sindhi nationalist leader Rasul Bakhsh Palijo for the office while the name of Justice (retd) Shakirullah Jan was withdrawn and Nisar informed the PM about his party’s decision by telephone. The PPP is said to have turned down the names of Justice Zahid and Palijo because it believes they would be unfair to the party. More or less the same is the standpoint of the PML-N.
If the stalemate continues, and there are chances that it would, they will have to find the solution within the constitution itself. Article 224A of the constitution spells out the procedure for the appointment of the caretaker prime minister and chief ministers in case the government and the opposition parties fail to reach consensus, the issue will have to be taken to an eight-member bi-partisan parliamentary committee - four each from the prime minister and the leader of opposition - which will choose one name from the four nominees within three days. And if this attempt also fails, the Election Commission of Pakistan will select the caretaker prime minister within two days.
The good thing, however, is that the constitution provides a deadline and method to get out of the deadlock in spite of the inability of our politicians.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Pakistan: Pre-poll pangs
Many things are happening for the first time in Pakistan and the inexperience of handling new situations is leading to certain pre-poll problems. The Pakistan People’s Party-led coalition government completed its five-year tenure for the second time since 1977 but the National Assembly completed its term for the first time. Now that the electorate is preparing to vote for their 14th National Assembly, the question of the caretaker set-up is developing into a deadlock because both the government and the opposition are not giving room to each other.The same is the case with the wish for the dissolution of provincial assemblies on the same day as the government and the opposition are stuck to their stance of rejecting each other’s nominees. The situation regarding holding the elections to the national and provincial legislatures on the same date because the opposition is not agreeing to this federal government’s proposal.
After the dissolution of the National Assembly on Saturday night, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and the Leader of the Opposition, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, have another three days to reach an agreement on the caretaker prime minister.
The two talked to each other by telephone on Friday but there was no formal contact between them or their representatives on Saturday. The prime minister also held a meeting with the four chief ministers on Saturday afternoon to convince them for holding the NA and PA polls on the same day. The objective of the meeting was to make a last-ditch effort to reach consensus on the issues of appointment of the caretaker set-ups and holding of general elections all over the country on the same day. There seems to be differences on these issues; although. the prime minister’s house said that the chief ministers had “agreed in principle that the elections of national and provincial assemblies will be held in the country on the same day for logistical, administrative and financial reasons, which would also promote political harmony in the country”. The official statement, however, did not mention the date on which all the provincial assemblies would be dissolved, indicating that the participants had failed to reach an understanding on simultaneous dissolution of the assemblies. The effort was also made by Prime Minister Ashraf to reach a consensus when he later had a one-to-one meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif but this did not work either.
The PML-N took the position that although it desired that the elections for the national and provincial assemblies should be held on the same day, Shahbaz Sharif had given no commitment to the prime minister that the Punjab Assembly would be dissolved simultaneously with other three provincial assemblies. When Balochistan Chief Minister Aslam Raisani was quoted by electronic media as stating that all the provincial assemblies would be dissolved on March 19, Mr Sharif immediately responded denying such a decision having taken place. Chaudhry Nisar was even more categorical in elaborating that the Punjab Assembly “will not be dissolved on March 16 if the government continues to play tricks in Sindh and Balochistan”. The Punjab Assembly would be dissolved on March 16 only if a consensus on the caretaker set-ups (in all provinces) was reached before time, otherwise, it would complete its constitutional term ending in April, Nisar added.
The establishment of a caretaker set-up at the federal level proved even trickier than other issues because both the government and the opposition were poles apart from accepting each other’s nominees. The government’s nominees for the caretaker prime minister were former finance minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, former State Bank governor Dr Ishrat Husain and Justice (retd) Mir Hazar Khan Khoso. The opposition put forward the names of Justice (retd) Nasir Aslam Zahid and Sindhi nationalist leader Rasul Bakhsh Palijo for the office while the name of Justice (retd) Shakirullah Jan was withdrawn and Nisar informed the PM about his party’s decision by telephone. The PPP is said to have turned down the names of Justice Zahid and Palijo because it believes they would be unfair to the party. More or less the same is the standpoint of the PML-N.
If the stalemate continues, and there are chances that it would, they will have to find the solution within the constitution itself. Article 224A of the constitution spells out the procedure for the appointment of the caretaker prime minister and chief ministers in case the government and the opposition parties fail to reach consensus, the issue will have to be taken to an eight-member bi-partisan parliamentary committee - four each from the prime minister and the leader of opposition - which will choose one name from the four nominees within three days. And if this attempt also fails, the Election Commission of Pakistan will select the caretaker prime minister within two days.
The good thing, however, is that the constitution provides a deadline and method to get out of the deadlock in spite of the inability of our politicians.
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