ISLAMABAD: Former railways secretary Sikandar Sultan Raja will be the first-ever ex-bureaucrat to be heading the country’s apex electoral body.

A decision to this effect was taken with consensus at a meeting of 12-member bipartisan parliamentary panel, headed by Human Rights Minister Dr Shireen Mazari, on Tuesday. The panel also named Nisar Durrani and Shah Mohammad Jatoi as members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from Sindh and Balochistan, respectively.

“Today’s decision is a much welcome one. Parliamentarians have taken a decision, which was their responsibility. Parliamentary matters should be decided by parliament,” Ms Mazari said while announcing the end of a deadlock that had kept the ECP dysfunctional for at least one and a half months after the retirement of CEC Sardar Mohammad Raza on Dec 5, whereas two ECP slots had been lying vacant since the retirement of members Abdul Ghaffar Soomro and Shakeel Baloch in January 2019.

“We should aim to work in this manner in the future,” the rights minister remarked.

Bipartisan parliamentary panel names Nisar Durrani and Shah Mohammad Jatoi as ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan, respectively

The meeting of the parliamentary committee, which was held in the chambers of the National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, was also attended by federal Minister for Law Barrister Farogh Nasim.

While talking to reporters, former law minister of Punjab and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Rana Sanaullah said: “Sikandar Sultan Raja has worked with us for an extended period of time in Punjab. He is an honest, hard-working and decent human being. I hope that now the ECP is able to ensure transparency in the next general elections.”

Former prime minister and PPP central leader Raja Pervez Ashraf noted that all three of the new appointees were capable of doing justice to the job.

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) lawmaker Shahida Akhtar Ali said that all three of the names were approved without any opposition. “Consensus on appointments to the ECP is a win for both politicians and parliament.”

The move comes a day after Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly and PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif had sent an amended list of the opposition nominees to the government.

The only amendment in the opposition’s list of three nominees was the addition of former attorney general Irfan Qadir in place of former foreign secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani. The other two names were the same — Nasir Mehmood Khosa, brother of former chief justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa, and former federal secretary Akhlaq Ahmed Tarar.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had earlier proposed three names, all retired bureaucrats, for the CEC position to Mr Sharif. The nominees from the government were Jamil Ahmad, Fazal Abbas Maken and Sikandar Sultan Raja.

Mr Raja, who retired only a couple of months ago as railways secretary, enjoys a good reputation of being an honest and dedicated officer.

He had also served as petroleum secretary and chief secretary of both Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan. He was director general (passports) when Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was interior minister. He served as provincial secretary of communications and works, services and general administration, besides local government secretary before being appointed additional chief secretary in Punjab for a brief period.

Son of an army officer, Mr Raja is the son-in-law of Saeed Mehdi, who also served as principal secretary to the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif, and brother-in-law of Islamabad Chief Commissioner Amir Ahmad Ali, who is considered to be close to Prime Minister Imran Khan these days.

His wife Rabab Sikandar is a serving grade-21 officer of Pakistan Customs.

The two individuals confirmed by the parliamentary panel as ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan Nisar Durrani and Shah Mohammad Jatoi are senior lawyers.

The appointments of sitting ECP members retired Justice Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi (Punjab) and retired Justice Irshad Qaiser (KP) are under challenge for being in violation of the Constitution.

During the brief period as acting Chief Election Commissioner, Mr Qureshi has taken a number of questionable decisions, one of which was stoppage of the ongoing capacity building training programme for ECP officials without any valid reason.

Under Section 12 (a) of the Elections Act 2017, the ECP has a legal obligation to conduct from time to time, training programmes for election officials including officials of the ECP, any government or corporation, and autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies controlled by any of these governments.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2020