Committee on poll rigging to be headed by govt, not opposition
September 28, 2018
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led government on Friday decided to head the parliamentary committee to be constituted for probing the alleged rigging in the July 25 polls and not appoint an opposition member on top.
Sources said senior PTI leadership had advised Prime Minister Imran Khan to keep the chairmanship of the committee with the government.
“PM Imran has given approval for a PTI member to head the parliamentary committee,” the sources said.
“The recommendation to appoint Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak as the head of the parliamentary committee has been approved,” they added.
Further, sources said that consultations are under way for names of those to be included in the parliamentary committee. “Shireen Mazari, Shafqat Mehmood, Ali Muhammad Khan and Amir Dogar might be part of the committee.”
“Government’s allied party, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) has put forth the name of Tariq Bashir Cheema to be included in the committee,” sources further said.
Earlier, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) finalised four names to be part of the committee. The PML-N decided on Ahsan Iqbal, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Rana Sanullah and Rana Tanveer to represent the party in the committee.
Sources said that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has also finalised names for its representatives in the committee.
Last week, the PTI-led government and opposition parties had agreed to form the committee to probe rigging allegations.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had assured the government and opposition would have equal representation in the committee.
Qureshi had further said that the committee chairman will be announced by the government after consultation with PM Imran. "The committee will comprise NA members and will not include any senator," he had said.
