Defence Minister Pervez Khattak was Wednesday elected chairman of the parliamentary committee set up to probe alleged rigging in the July 25 general election.
Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry told reporters after the committee meeting that Khattak was elected held of the parliamentary panel unanimously. His name was proposed by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Naveed Qamar during the committee’s first meeting, he said, adding that a 10-member sub-committee will be constituted to finalize terms of reference (TORs) for the investigation. The sub-committee will have equal representation from opposition and the treasury benches.
The government on October 15 had announced a 30-member parliamentary committee to probe alleged rigging in the general election. The committee includes 15 lawmakers each from the government and the opposition parties. Pervez Khattak, Shafqat Mehmood, Shireen Mazari, Fawad Chaudhry, Tariq Bashir Cheema, Azam Swati, Amir Dogar, Khalid Magsi, Akhtar Mengal, Ameenul Haq, Ghous Bakhsh Mehr, Ayaz Sadiq, Rana Tanveer, Ahsan Iqbal, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Rana Sanaullah, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Khursheed Shah, Naveed Qamar, Ameer Haider Hoti, Maulana Abdul Wasay, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Muhammad Ali Saif, Sarfraz Bugti, Nauman Wazir, Hidayatullah, Javed Abbasi, Asad Junejo, Usman Kakar and Rehman Malik are members of the committee.
The committee will review allegations of irregularities in the general election and will present recommendations for ensuring further transparency in the election process.
Fawad said the July 25 general elections were the most transparent and fair elections in the country’s history, which was even acknowledged by the European Union observers. “On the contrary, the 2013 general elections were openly rigged. Forms 45 of thousands of polling stations in 2013 were missing, whereas in case of the last election, the forms were uploaded on the website of the Pakistan Election Commission ruling out any chance of rigging,” he claimed.
Published in Daily Times, November 8th 2018.
