PPP, N strike deal on 20th amendment: Abrar Ali Saeed

ISLAMABAD – Breaking the impasse with the main opposition party, government has conceded to the demands of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to incorporate issues relating to the members of the Election Commission of Pakistan in the draft bill of the constitutional amendment before it would be tabled before the House for passage.Meanwhile, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, while talking to the leaders of the coalition parties at a dinner he hosted in their honour at Prime Minister House, has expressed his optimism that 20th Constitutional Amendment will be passed by the Parliament with consensus vote.The coalition partners were taken on board by the prime minister on the strategy adopted in this connection. The prime minister said that he had personally talked to JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and sought his cooperation for the purpose while the negotiations with other parties in the opposition including main opposition party Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) were in progress for the purpose.Sources aware of the back channel contacts between the ruling PPP and PML-N, said talks were in progress for quite sometime but the breakthrough was made on Wednesday when Syed Naveed Qamar and Senator Mian Raza Rabbani held detailed negotiations with PML-N leader Ishaq Dar and Zahid Hamid who brokered the deal on behalf of their party.It was agreed between the two sides that the resolvable issues relating to the eight members of the Election Commission of Pakistan, two from each province, would be made part of the 20th Amendment Bill and then the PML-N would extend support to the 20th Constitutional Amendment.Similarly, the PPP leaders had also given assurance to the PML-N counterparts that they would not give extension to the incumbent chief election commissioner who would be retiring in the coming March and would appoint the next Chief Election Commissioner strictly in accordance with the procedure laid down for it in the 18th Constitutional Amendment.The ruling PPP had also assured the opposition that they would also incorporate the amendments proposed by PML-N in the National Accountability Commission Bill languishing with the National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice for past over three years.Sources in the government informed that the government rushed into meaningful negotiations with the main opposition party PML-N when they saw some of their own coalition partners pushing them to a tight corner and the chances of 20th Amendment passage without the support of PML-N seemed bleak.Sources further informed that the signatures of all the three coalition partners on the joint resolution prepared by the opposition against the recent hike in the petroleum prices had panicked the ruling PPP and they were left with little choice to accept the demand of PML-N to bring amendment in the draft Bill of 20th Constitutional Amendment to accommodate its demands regarding the Election Commission of Pakistan.According to the press release issued by the Prime Minister’s House, besides the MNAs, the dinner was attended by various leaders of the coalition parties including Ch Shujaat Hussain, Haji Munir Khan Orakzai, Haider Abbas Rizvi, Babar Ghauri, Ghulam Muhammad Bilour, Haji Khuda Bakhsh Rajar and Saima Akhtar Bharwana.The coalition partners assured the prime minister of their full support for the adoption of the 20th Constitutional Amendment. They said the amendment would benefit all the parties by giving legal cover to the bye-elections.The prime minister thanked the coalition partners for strengthening democracy and political system in the country.