ISLAMABAD: With consultations over the choice of the next chief election commissioner (CEC) for the Election Comm­ission of Pakistan (ECP) gaining momentum, prominent lawyers and the country’s premier legal bodies find themselves in rare agreement over their strong reservations over the possibility of former chief justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani becoming the new CEC.

Consultations between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah are currently under way. The need for swift decision making on the matter is necessitated by a Supreme Court deadline, asking the government to finalise the appointment of a new ECP chief by Nov 13. The apex court has threatened to withdraw Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, who is currently acting as the interim head of the government authority responsible for conducting elections in the country.

According to those privy to consultations between the government and opposition parties, the individuals whose names are being considered to fill the post of CEC include former chief justice Jillani, former senior-most SC judge Rana Bhagwandas and former SC judges Tariq Parvez and Nasir Aslam Zahid.

But Pakistan Bar Council’s Vice Chairman Bhurhan Moa­zzam and newly-elected Supreme Court Bar Association President Fazal Haq Abbasi are both opposed to the installation of the former chief justice as the CEC.

Opting for a lesser office will be beneath the stature of a man who already had served an exalted office of the land, that of the chief justice, both senior counsel told Dawn in separate conversations.

“I stand behind the Lahore resolution (of June 28) until it is revisited by the general house of the PBC,” said Mr Moazzam, adding that the situation would become all the more complex with the advent of ECP Additional Secretary Mohammad Afzal Khan, who served during the period Justice Jillani officiated as acting CEC. Mr Khan has hurled allegations of rigging during the 2013 general elections and backed Imran Khan’s call for re-election.

If even a single allegation levelled by the former ECP officer was proven to be true, it would reflect badly on the image of the former chief justice and compromise the office of the CEC, he said.

Fazal Haq Abbasi, the newly-elected SCBA president from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said that if someone who had served as the chief justice of Pakistan was summoned by the apex court itself over an election-related matter, the prestige of the CJP’s position as well as the sanctity of the court would be in peril.

It was in the best interests of the former chief justice that he should not accept the job, Mr Abbasi said.

In its June 28 resolution, the PBC had adopted that Justice Jillani seemed to be on his way to becoming the next CEC and the government’s decision to delay the appointment of a permanent head of the ECP indicated that it was waiting to install him at the helm of the embattled body.

Although Justice Jillani had some experience of the workings of the ECP, having served as the acting CEC before his appointment as chief justice, the PBC insisted that the foremost consideration must be transparency and impartiality. This would obviously not be the case if the appointment of permanent CEC was made as a result of an “understanding”, the resolution stated.

According to the PBC resolution, the ECP had a chequered history. The man on the street is mostly unaware of such developments and accepts most things as a fait accompli.

The office of CEC has been vacant since Fakharuddin G. Ebrahim resigned on July 30, 2013 as the 13th CEC. His resignation came soon after a Supreme Court verdict, amending the schedule for presidential elections on a petition filed by a PML-N legislator without hearing other parties — a decision Mr Ebrahim considered an encroachment in the ECP’s domain.

Published in Dawn, November 8th , 2014