ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the Natio­nal Assembly Shahbaz Sha­rif on Friday forwarded the names of proposed members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from Sindh and Balochistan without consultation with the prime minister.

Mr Sharif has forwarded six names to the Parliam­en­tary Committee on Appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and Members of the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The three names for an ECP member from Baloch­i­stan are Salahuddin Mengal, former provincial advocate general and senior advocate of the Supreme Court; Shah Mohammad Jatoi, advocate of the Supreme Court; and Mohammad Rauf Ata, former advocate general and senior advocate of the Supreme Court.

The three names for an ECP member from Sindh are: Khalid Javed, senior lawyer of the Supreme Court and former president of the Sindh High Court Bar Asso­ciation; retired Justice Abdul Rasool Memon, former jud­ge of the Sindh High Court; and retired Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi, former judge of the Islamabad High Court.

In his letter, Mr Sharif has said the constitutional provision of consultation between the prime minister and the opposition leader has not been fulfilled because the premier did not give time for a meeting.

Earlier, the government had initially proposed the names of Salahuddin Men­gal, Mahmud Raza Khan, former additional advocate general for Balochistan; and Raja Aamir Abbasi, ex-deputy prosecutor general of the National Accountability Bureau, for their appointment as ECP member from Balochistan, and Mohammad Nadeem Qureshi, ex-member judicial (judge of the customs appellate tribunal); retired justice Abdul Rasool Memon, former registrar of the SHC; and retired justice Noorul Haq Qureshi, a former IHC judge, for Sindh.

But the government had to face severe criticism when Foreign Minister Shah Meh­mood Qureshi sent the nominations and that too through an additional secretary of his ministry. Later, the nomination was withdrawn and Prime Minister Imran Khan in his letter to Shahbaz Sharif had proposed new names for the posts.

The prime minister suggested the names of Amanullah Baloch, former district and sessions judge, Quetta; Munir Kakar, a lawyer; and Mir Naveed Jan Baloch, a businessman and former caretaker minister in the provincial government, for their nomination as a member of the ECP from Balochistan, and the names of Khalid Mehmood Siddiq­­ui, a lawyer; retired Justice Farrukh Zia Sheikh, a former judge of the Sindh High Court; and Iqbal Mehmood, retired inspector general of Sindh, for their nomination as ECP member from Sindh.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2019