THIS is with reference to Abad Ahmed’s letter ‘Appointing Chief Election Commissioner’ (March 22), citing the nature of job of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), opining therein that a retired general suits this requirement.

I do agree with the writer that the job of the CEC is essentially administrative rather than judicial in nature. However, one wonders if the army general will fulfil the criteria.

While the writer acknowledges the role of Indian CECs who were from civil and police services, who institutionalised the entire election process there, yet he throws his weight behind the army general in Pakistan.

If civil and police services are highly politicised in Pakistan, what about the army as an institution?

Yet even if civil bureaucracy is not assigned this task, the best way of conducting free and fair elections in Pakistan is only possible if the permanent middle-rung bureaucracy of the Election Commission of Pakistan is elevated to the highest positions in organisation, including the post of the CEC.

Being the permanent employees of ECP, they are the most experienced officials having vast knowledge of conducting elections, acquiring trainings and monitoring election process worldwide.

However, it must be ensured that the appointment of the officers’ cadre in the ECP is made through public service commission and while elevating them to the highest ladder in the organisation, merit and efficiency is a pre-requisite.

It is regrettable that even the secretary, who is the administrative head of the organisation, is not appointed from amongst the senior officials of the ECP in the present setup.

The appointment of the CEC, as laid down in the 20th Amendment, is not only a bottleneck in the carrier of permanent and deserving servicemen in the ECP but also of no use as he will serve only for a short period of five years and all the  skills and experience acquired by him as observer in elections in almost all the countries of the world will never be imparted down in the organisation, as he has to go after five years.

IMTIAZ ALI Larkana