ISLAMABAD: After weeks of foot-dragging, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq constituted on Friday a 33-member bicameral committee to propose reforms in the electoral process.

“Consequent upon motions adopted by the National Assembly on June 19, and by the Senate on June 30, the speaker has constituted a 33-member parliamentary committee on electoral reform to evaluate the shortcomings of the previous electoral process and make recommendations to hold free, fair and transparent elections,” said an official statement released by the NA secretariat.

The media wing of the NA said it did not know when the committee was scheduled to hold its first meeting to elect its chairman and define the terms of references.

An official of the media wing said a decision about the first meeting of the panel would be made after return to the country of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, a key government member of the committee, from Saudi Arabia.

On June the prime minister wrote to the speaker, asking him to set up the special committee and proposing that after its formation the body submit a report in three months.

But for unknown reasons, the speaker unnecessarily dragged the issue. “Ideally the committee should have been formed in a week after the prime minister wrote to the speaker,” a member of the committee belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf said.

Since the issue of election rigging would surely be discussed in the committee’s meetings and Ayaz Sadiq’s was one of the four constituencies in which the PTI had demanded vote re-count, the speaker must have announced the setting up of the committee with a “heavy heart”, he said.

Secondly, the PTI lawmaker said, after Eid his party’s focus would be on the Aug 14 march and the government had also announced a heavy agenda for its month-long Independence Day celebrations. Therefore it would be difficult for the committee to hold regular meeting till then.

Whether or not it was a deliberate exclusion, the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) of retired general Pervez Musharraf has not been given representation in the committee. But, other “one-man” parties like the Awami Muslim League of Sheikh Rashid, Qaumi Watan Party of Aftab Sherpao, Jamaat-i-Islami and Awami Jamhuri Ittihad have been given nominations. The NA media wing refused to comment on the issue of representation of the APML.

Given the mandate and membership of the committee, a veteran PPP activist who had been advising the party on parliamentary affairs, said all political parties should use the platform to improve the election process.

The prime minister had given the commitment that if needed the government was ready for an amendment to the constitution to refine election process which was only possible with the voting power of the ruling party, he recalled.

The committee was a real test for the members of the National Assembly, he said.

Although political analysts term the formation of the committee a good omen for democracy, they are wary of a confrontation between the PTI and the government.

PTI chief Imran Khan said on Thursday his party’s march would be ‘decisive’. “Nobody should be mistaken that the PTI is going to hold a simple protest public gathering in Islamabad,” he said while addressing his party workers.

In reaction to the PTI’s march, the government has announced a series of activities in the name of Independence Day celebrations.

The NA statement said the committee would have maximum eight members from the ruling PML-N: Senators Ishaq Dar and Malik Mohammad Rafique Rajwana and MNAs Zahid Hamid, Anusha Rehman, Abdul Qadir Baluch, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Abdul Hakeem Baluch and Tariq Fazal Chaudhry.

The main opposition PPP has five members, including three legal wizards who played a key role in working out the 18th amendment. Besides Senators Aitzaz Ahsan, Mian Raza Rabbani and Farooq H. Naek, MNAs Syed Naveed Qamar and Shazia Mari will represent the party on the committee.

The PTI will have three members -- MNAs Shafqat Mehmood, Shireen Mazari and Dr Arif Alvi.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) have two members each. MNA Naeema Kishwar Khan and Senator Talha Mehmood will represent the JUI-F while MNA Farooq Sattar and Senator Tahir Hussain Mashhadi will be giving input to the committee on behalf of the MQM.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2014