One of the committee's member disclosed on the condition of anonymity that it seemed the name of Ebrahim had been the result of successful backdoor diplomacy between ruling Party Pakistan People's Party and main opposition party Pakistan Muslim League (N). The committee did not hold much deliberation to announce the name of Ebrahim, he said.
The name of Fakhruddin G Ebrahim will be sent to Prime Minister Raja Pervaz Ashraf for approval. However, he is likely to take charge after retirement of Justice Shakirullah Jan who will retire in August 2012, sources said.
At the concluding of the Parliamentary Committee, Khursheed Shah, Head of the bipartisan parliamentary committee, confirmed that Ebrahim's name had been agreed upon for recommendation for the CEC.
He negated the impression of rigging in coming general election and said any fear regarding rigging in elections should no longer hold merit. He further added that almost 90 percent of the work pertaining to implementation of the Charter of Democracy (CoD) had been completed after the nomination of CEC.
PML-N proposed the name of Ebrahim, Justice Shakirullah Jan and former Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid for the position, whereas the government proposed the names of former Justice Munir A Sheikh, former Justice Amirul Mulk Mengal and former Justice Zahid Qurban Alvi.
According to detail, Fakhruddin born on February 12, 1928, is a retired Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and peace activist. He also served as the interim Law Minister from July 18, 1993 to October 19, 1993, and interim Justice Minister from November 5, 1996 to February 17, 1997. He became popular as the former Attorney General of Pakistan during the democratic government of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and served as his close legal adviser throughout the 1970s.
In 1988, he was also appointed Governor of Sindh by former prime minister Benazir Bhutto during her first term.