ISLAMABAD: A Natio­nal Assembly panel on Thursday asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to allow diversion of funds from slow-paced projects to fast-moving ones, besides seeking relaxation in ban on recruitment in government departments.

The National Assembly standing committee on parliamentary affairs, at a meeting presided over by its chairperson Dr Shezra Mansab Ali Khan Kharal, expressed concern on imposition of ban on development schemes and recommended that the ECP should lift ban on ongoing development schemes. The committee recommended that the notification already issued should be amended in the public interest.

Representatives from three provinces — Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — said that the notification regarding ban on recruitment and development schemes should be issued in consultation with the federal and provincial governments. The representative from all provinces expressed apprehension on imposition of ban on recruitment and ongoing development schemes.

ECP Additional Secretary Zafar Iqbal Hussain, briefing the committee on the logic behind imposition of ban on recruitment and development schemes, said it was meant to prevent pre-poll rigging. He said reports suggested that development schemes and recruitment ahead of coming general elections were being used as a tool to impact outcome of the polls.

He said that under Article 218 (3) of the Constitution, it was the constitutional obligation of the ECP to make necessary arrangements to ensure that the elections were conducted in an honest, just and fair way and in accordance with the law, and that corrupt practices were guarded against.

Mr Hussain said that all kind of recruitments, except the recruitments made by the Federal and Provincial Public Service Commission, had been banned by the ECP. He also referred to Art­icle 220 of the Constitution which reads, “It shall be the duty of all executive authorities in the Federation and in the provinces to assist the Commissioner and the Election Commission in the discharge of his or their functions”.

He pointed out that the Supreme Court in its judgement in the Watan Party case had held that the ECP was empowered to take pre-emptive measures to guard against corrupt practices.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2018