ISLAMABAD: The government on Saturday made unsuccessful attempts to persuade JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to extend support for the proposed 22nd constitution amendment in order to ensure open balloting in the coming Senate elections.

“Despite being a part of the ruling coalition, we have reservations over the proposed amendment,” Maulana Fazlur Rehman told reporters outside his official residence in the Ministers Enclave after meeting two federal ministers, who had come to see him in the hope of striking a deal on the issue.

Later, the JUI-F chief called on PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari at the latter’s F-8 residence in Islamabad.

PML-Q leader dissents from party line on legislation

Both leaders, who have taken a united stand on the issue, discussed the political situation and the possibilities of cooperation between the two parties, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where both of them are in opposition.

“By supporting the idea of open balloting, I don’t want to send a message to my members that their loyalties are being doubted. The others should also not send such a message,” Mr Rehman said in the presence of federal ministers Pervaiz Rashid and Khawaja Saad Rafique.

The information minister, contrary to standard practice, avoided a lengthy media talk and left the venue after simply saying that they would convey the JUI-F chief’s concerns to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, which would “hopefully be addressed”.

He said that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was also in contact with Maulana Fazlur Rehman on the matter and that his party was in touch with other political parties as well.

Unfortunately, he said, military dictatorship had crushed democratic and moral values and encouraged sectarianism, communalism and bribery in politics. He said PML-N wanted to clear this mess in collaboration with pro-democracy parties.

The JUI-F took the opportunity to allege that the PTI, his main rival in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was supporting the government because it had been looking for excuses to return to the assembly after its members resigned.

Mr Rehman was of the opinion that the parliamentary committee on electoral reforms could have resolved the issue of Senate elections as well, had its functioning not been obstructed by the PTI’s sit-in. He also said that if PTI members returned to the assemblies, they would be considered “strangers.”

A JUI-F member told Dawn that the maulana had “flatly refused” to extend his party’s support to the 22nd amendment. He said the maulana told the ministers that the JUI-F was already regretting its decision to support the setting up of military courts in the country by supporting the 21st amendment, but this time, it would not make a hasty decision.

Commenting on the JUI-F chief’s remarks, PTI’s Information Secretary Shireen Mazari alleged that “the Maulana’s game will be over when the use of money in politics ends”. She said that the JUI-F leader had always acted as “a slave to rulers” and was afraid of the 22nd amendment.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s meeting with the heads of parliamentary parties on Friday had proven inconclusive after the PPP and the JUI-F both opposed the proposed amendment aimed at curbing horse-trading in the Senate elections through the sale and purchase of votes.

The response from the PPP and JUI-F, without whose support the government can’t secure the two-thirds majority necessary for the passage of amendment, has put the ruling party on the back foot.

Both parties opposed the suggestion to change the voting system from secret to open ballot, terming it a move that had come too late and at a time when the elections are just a few days away.

PPP general secretary and former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf had reportedly said that his party was all for electoral reforms, but they should be carried out after developing a consensus among all major political parties.

The PTI and MQM, on the other hand, are supporting the proposed amendment.

Meanwhile on Saturday, veteran lawyer and PML-Q leader SM Zafar wrote to his party president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, protested their decision to support the 22nd amendment.

In the letter, seen by Dawn, Mr Zafar has criticised the leadership for taking such a big decision without discussing it in the executive committee of the party.  

He has also sent a copy of the letter to PML-Q secretary general Mushahid Hussain, asking him “to exercise his influence, if he agrees, to stop the party from taking this suicidal step before the parliament is called for the sinister objective.”

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2015

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