THE government’s decision to appoint a seasoned civil servant with an impeccable reputation as Chief Election Commissioner is very welcome.

The new CEC, Sikandar Sultan Raja, is a retired grade-22 bureaucrat with years of experience in the critical fields of district management and secretary of different federal government departments. His last posting before retirement was chief secretary Azad Kashmir. Such officers are better suited to perform the duties of an election commission compared to officers of other cadres.

The Dawn report (Jan 22) notes that Mr S.S. Raja is the first-ever CEC. This, however, is incorrect. I recall Mr G. Mueenuddin, a very distinguished officer, was CEC in the mid-1960s. And if I am not mistaken, Mr Afzal Agha performed these duties a few years later.

Mueen Afzal, H.I.,
Lahore

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2020