ISLAMABAD: The three-judge judicial commission tasked with the tedious job of investigating allegations of rigging in the 2013 general elections held its first meeting on Thursday and decided to ask the political parties which had contested the polls to come up with solid evidence and proposals.

The decision was taken by the commission at the closed-door meeting with its head Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk in the chair. The inquiry commission was constituted under the April 3 presidential ordinance. Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan are members of commission.

The commission was set up by the ruling PML-N after an agreement with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf on April 1 on its terms of reference after months of political bickering which reached its pinnacle when the PTI held a 126-day sit-in at the D-Chowk near the Parliament House.

At the meeting, the commission considered Section 5(3) of the General Elections 2013 Inquiry Commission Ordinance which provides an opportunity to political parties to submit evidence or material to prove the allegations of rigging and make submissions for consideration by the commission.

Commission mainly discussed ways of regulating its proceedings and appointed chief justice’s secretary Mohammad Hamid Ali as its secretary. It asked political parties to submit by April 15 their proposals in the form of a brief statement with one original supporting evidence or material and seven photocopies to the commission’s secretary.

The commission decided to hold its first public hearing on April 16 at 1pm in Courtroom No1 of the Supreme Court. Individual or counsel representing a political party will have to produce due authorisation by the head of the party.

Soon after the commission’s announcement inviting the political parties to join its proceedings, PTI chief Imran Khan told reporters in Karachi that his party would produce concrete and tangible evidence before the commission that would expose how on a single thumb impression 50 votes had been cast in the last elections.

Senator Farhatullah Babar, spokesman for PPP Co-Chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari, told Dawn that his party’s electoral reforms committee had discussed the matter at its meeting on Thursday.

He said the meeting presided over by former Senate chairman Nayyar Bokhari had deliberated on how to raise election-related issues with the commission and prepared a set of recommendations for Mr Zardari. The PPP would act in accordance with the decision of the party’s head that was expected any time soon, Senator Babar said.

It may be mentioned that the PPP had endorsed PTI’s assertion that the 2013 elections were rigged.

A senior PPP legislator said on condition of anonymity that the party should have a representation before the commission because it had been accusing the returning officers of stealing the last elections.

JUI-F leader and former senator Kamran Murtaza told Dawn that his party’s chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had called a meeting of legal experts on Friday to decide whether or not to attend the commission’s proceedings. He criticised the government and said it had constituted the commission under pressure in violation of constitutional provisions.

JUI-F spokesperson Jan Achakzai was of the opinion that the setting up of the commission was a politically motivated decision and said that matters like election rigging probe should not be resolved in courts.

ANP’s information secretary Zahid Khan said his party would attend the commission’s proceedings as “we have sufficient evidence to prove rigging, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa”.

The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) has constituted a five-member committee headed by its former vice chairman Latif Afridi to finalise a strategy. The Chairman of the Executive Committee of the council, Mohammad Ahsan Bhoon, expressed reservations over the formation of the judicial commission and said it was a violation of Article 225 of the Constitution which empowered only election tribunals to decide poll-related disputes.

He said the commission comprising Supreme Court judges was an attempt to involve the judiciary into political matters which would only undermine its image. The chief justice and judges of the apex court should not be part of the commission.

Mr Bhoon was also not happy over former chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry’s decision to appear before the commission as a party and said it gave an impression that he had guilty conscience for having played some role in the last general elections in favour of the PML-N. Otherwise, he should not have issued such a hasty statement about getting involved in the rigging controversy, Mr Bhoon said.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2015

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