The Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif lauded Prime Minister Imran Khan's decision for withdrawing his two earlier letters addressed to the Parliamentary Committee outlining referrals for nominations for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) positions
ISLAMABAD (Pakistan Point News / Online - 09th April, 2019) The Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif lauded Prime Minister Imran Khan's decision for withdrawing his two earlier letters addressed to the Parliamentary Committee outlining referrals for nominations for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) positions.In a letter to the premier, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stalwart Shehbaz acknowledged the premier's move of withdrawing Names sent to the Parliamentary Committee, adding that doing so without prior consultation with the opposition leader was a violation of the Constitution.
He also reiterated that the premier's letter dated March 11 remained a violation of the Constitution as it could not be regarded as "consultation under Article 213(2A)". The PML-N leader clarified that consultation envisaged by said constitutional provisions cannot be conducted by proxies.In addition, Shehbaz reiterated that �personal involvement' of the premier and the opposition leader are central to the process. He cited the Supreme Court judgment stating that "the consultative procedure envisaged by Article 213(2A) requires personal involvement of the prime minister and the leader of the opposition through verbal and written communication and mutual discussion".
On April 2, PM Imran maintained that the letter written on March 26 was meant to start the consultation process and build a consensus, noting that the entire idea of sending the letter was to enter into an effective, meaningful, purposive and consensus-oriented process of consultation, leaving no room of complaint of arbitrariness or unfair play. The premier had also accused Shehbaz of taking no steps to start the consultation process.After the prime minister's letter on April 2, the PML-N called a meeting of its top leadership at the parliament house to discuss names for the ECP positions.
