Govt nominee for top ECP office retires today.

Byline: Iftikhar A. Khan

ISLAMABAD -- The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's (PTI) nominee for the office of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Babar Yaqub Fateh Mohammad, retires as secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday.

He will be replaced by Zafar Iqbal Hussain, currently serving as the provincial election commissioner, Punjab. A notification to this effect was issued on Monday with the approval of the acting CEC, retired justice Altaf IbraAhim Qureshi. A BPS-21 officer Mr Hussain is expected to take charge on Jan 1.

Meanwhile, the matter pertaining to the appointment of CEC and members of the ECP has again been delayed for a week - this time because of fog. The parliamentary committee on appointment of CEC and ECP members was to meet on Monday, but the meeting had to be put off for a week as some members of the panel could not reach Islamabad due to foggy weather.

As the matter continues to be delayed, informed sources told Dawn, outgoing ECP secretary Fateh Mohammad, whose name is on top of the government's list, in all probability is to be picked up as the new CEC as 'ice appears to have been broken between the government and the opposition'.

The sources said that under the arrangement being given a final...