Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed the government to seek opposition nominees for a parliamentary committee on electoral reforms, sources said, as Islamabad moves to open talks on the proposed changes. The aim, according to those sources, is to build consensus by bringing opposition members into the parliamentary process rather than advancing the package alone.
How the panel is to be formed
Sources said the committee will have 20 members. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is to hold the chairmanship, and five seats are reserved for the opposition. The prime minister has specifically ordered that names be sought from the opposition for those places.
The speaker of the National Assembly is to write to the opposition, inviting it to join the committee and asking for five nominees. That letter is the formal step meant to turn the prime minister’s direction into an invitation the parties can answer with a list of members.
Officials framing the plan say involving the opposition in electoral reforms — changes to how elections are organised and contested — is intended to widen political buy-in before any draft moves further through Parliament.
Opposition talks on a new Charter of Democracy
Separately, opposition parties have been discussing a new Charter of Democracy. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman floated the idea, and opposition leaders have given him the go-ahead in principle, sources said.
An Opposition Alliance meeting in Parliament has ended without a final text. A conclusive decision on the proposed charter is to follow further consultations. During that sitting, a telephone call was placed to the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Mahmood Khan Achakzai.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is to take its members of parliament into confidence on the charter. Opposition parties also agreed to convene an All Parties Conference (APC) — a joint opposition gathering — in the second week of November, where they plan to announce the new Charter of Democracy formally. Alliance leaders said resolving the national crisis requires all political parties to sit together.
What happens next
The immediate test for the government’s track is whether the speaker’s letter goes out and whether the opposition supplies five names for the reforms panel. On the opposition side, consultations on the charter and PTI’s internal briefing of its lawmakers will shape what is announced at the November conference.
How far the parliamentary committee and the opposition’s charter talks reinforce or compete with each other is not yet clear. For now, both tracks point to the same demand voiced across the aisle: that major rules for elections and democracy be settled through joint political work rather than unilateral steps.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Wazir-e-Azam Shehbaz Sharif ne kaha hai ke intikhabi islahat wali committee mein opposition ke naam shamil kiye jayein. Is 20 member panel ki sadarat PPP ko milegi aur opposition se paanch log rakhe jayenge. National Assembly ke speaker opposition ko khat likh kar paanch names mangenge. Maqsad yeh hai ke intikhabi qawaid par siyasi ittefaq ban sake.
