ISLAMABAD: As Finance Minister Ishaq Dar initiated contacts with leaders of various parties on Saturday to take them into confidence over the agreement between the government and the PTI on the formation of a judicial commission to probe the alleged poll rigging, the ANP and the JUI-F have expressed reservations over the development.

According to a Finance Ministry announcement, Mr Dar spoke to leaders of various political parties. It said leaders from PPP, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and National Party (NP) termed the PTI-government agreement a “positive development”.

The leaders felicitated Mr Dar, who was the head of the government’s negotiating team with the PTI, over the agreement, and expressed the hope that this development would augur well for democracy in the country.

Read: Govt, PTI agree on formation of poll inquiry commission

Mr Dar made telephone calls to Opposition Leaders in the National Assembly and Senate Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah and Aitzaz Ahsan, as well as Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani, former interior minister Rehman Malik, MQM parliamentary leader Dr Farooq Sattar, JI chief Sirajul Haq, NP president Hasil Bizenjo and independent Fata MNA G.G. Jamal.

On the other hand, the PTI’s two arch rivals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province – the Awami National Party (ANP) and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) – have termed the government-PTI deal a move to bring the PTI back to the assemblies.

PTI’s main rivals in KP assembly say the move is designed to bring lawmakers back to parliament

ANP Vice-President Haji Adeel alleged that the PTI was desperate to return to the assemblies and the government had actually provided them an opportunity to do so.

The ANP leader was of the view that the PTI MPs had already submitted their resignations and, therefore, the question of their eligibility would be raised whenever they returned to the assemblies.

Haji Adeel claimed that PML-N and the PTI had come closer during the recently-held Senate elections when both the parties, fearing a revolt in their ranks, had reached an understanding during a meeting at the Governor House in Peshawar.

JUI-F spokesman Jan Achakzai told Dawn the JUI-F believed that the recommendations of the proposed commission should not be binding and its scope should be restricted to “specific allegations” levelled by the PTI leadership and it should not be allowed to re-open the settled cases.

Dr Farooq Sattar said the finance minister had informed him about the agreement between the government and the PTI, but he had not disclosed the terms and conditions and other details of the accord.

The MQM leader said it was good that the two parties, which were formerly on the warpath, had reached some understanding, but his party would come out with its viewpoint on the issue of the judicial commission only after it obtained details about it.

PTI Information Secretary Dr Shireen Mazari expressed the hope that the judicial commission would be constituted by next week. She said the commission would be given a 45-day timeframe to probe the election `rigging’. She said the party would accept every decision of the commission.

Ms Mazari said that any political party could present proofs about rigging in the 2013 elections before the commission. She called for bringing reforms to the system to make the election process transparent and fair in future. She said the party would make its decision to return to the assemblies in a core committee’s meeting to be held on Sunday.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2015

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