ECP issue to be sorted by Wednesday: Khattak

ISLAMABAD: As a deadlock continues to hinder the appointment of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and chief election commissioner, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak on Sunday said that the government and opposition will reach a consensus on the postings by Wednesday.

He said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has already approached the opposition parties in this regard for evolving a consensus on the issue.  On Thursday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued directions for parliament to resolve the deadlock over the appointment of members of the ECP within 10 days.

The government has named current ECP secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad, Fazal Abbas Maken and Arif Khan, whereas the opposition recommended former bureaucrat Nasir Mahmood Khosa, former ambassador to the US Jalil Abbas Jilani and ex-civil servant Akhlaq Ahmed Tarar for the post of the CEC.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Imran Khan and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and National Assembly Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif sent recommendations for ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan to Asad Qaiser and Sanjrani.

For the post of ECP member from Sindh, the PM had proposed the names of Justice (r) Sadiq Bhatti, Justice (r) Noorul Haq Qureshi, and Abdul Jabbar Qureshi, according to a copy of his letter. He had recommended Dr Faiz M Kakar, Mir Naveed Jan Baloch, and Amanullah Baloch for the office of the ECP member from Balochistan.

Shehbaz had recommended Nisar Durrani, Justice (r) Abdul Rasul Memon, and Aurangzeb Haq for the post of ECP member from Sindh. Whereas, for ECP Balochistan member, he proposed the names of Shah Mehmood Jatoi, Muhammad Rauf Atta and Rahila Durrani.