The lawmakers from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) got into a clash after three PTI lawmakers Karim Gabol, Shehryar Shar and Aslam Abro, who raised reservations over the distribution of Senate tickets in Sindh, entered the house.
These three lawmakers in question had earlier announced that they would not vote for the PTI candidates in the Senate elections as they were in disagreement with the tickets that had been awarded for the polls. The three were welcomed by members of the ruling PPP when they arrived at the assembly for Tuesday’s session., resulting in chaos.
Gabol, in a video released a day earlier, had claimed that his party has given Senate tickets to candidates in exchange for money, adding that the Constitution of the country allows him to vote for any candidate.
Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani left the assembly after asking the parliamentarians to go back to their seats repeatedly. He has taken notice and ordered an inquiry in the chaos.
Reports suggest that Gabol has been moved to a hotel on Sharae Faisal. He is expected to issue a video statement soon.
It is pertinent to mention here that on Monday, PTI Karachi President Khurram Sher Zaman had claimed that three of his party’s MPAs had gone missing, while today those ‘missing’ members came to the Sindh Assembly and reportedly stated that they will vote according to their ‘conscience’. This is a likely reference to the fact that they will vote in favour of the opposition coalition, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
Opposition Leader Haleem Adil Sheikh, while speaking to the media, accused that PPP leaders Burhan Chandio and Taimoor Talpur of having abducted Shehryar Shar and Aslam Abro and having tried to kidnap Karim Gabol. Sheikh threatened to lodge FIR if the situation continues to remain violent.
Sheikh, when confronted with a video of PTI lawmakers manhandling their own party members, accused the journalists of “acting like PPP workers”.
The Karachi Union of Journalists later issued a statement condemning Sheikh’s remarks and warning of boycotting coverage of PTI lawmakers unless an unconditional apology was issued.
On the other hand, Abro and Shar were seen to have exited the assembly with the PPP lawmakers, and Abro reportedly stated that it was the PTI that had kidnapped Gabol.
Abro, while talking to media persons, said that they contested elections on their own and freedom of expression is everyone’s right. The lawmaker said that he is and will remain a member of PTI but will cast vote for Senate elections according to his conscience.
He further said that he repeatedly asked the provincial governor to do development work in Sindh but no federal minister ever visited rural areas of the province and they do not even know the names of their MPAs.
He also claimed that the Sindh chapter of the party keeps Prime Minister Imran Khan in the dark.
PTI members have raised concerns over the way the party distributed the tickets, said PPP leader Nasir Hussain Shah after the incident. “PTI’s disgruntled members approached us and said that they won’t vote for their party,” he claimed.
“We don’t know if Gabol’s issue was planted or not,” he remarked. What happened in the assembly is condemnable and this should not have happened. “Gabol said that he wanted to go with his party members and no one stopped him,” Shah added.
“We believe in democracy and no one is being pressured in anyone.”
Three provincial assemblies and the National Assembly would elect 37 senators on Wednesday (March 3, 2021) as the Punjab Assembly has already elected 11 senators unopposed.
Twelve candidates each from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) while 11 from Sindh and two from federal capital would be elected senators.
Those elected unopposed in Punjab are Kamil Agha, Saifullah Nyazee, Afnanullah Khan, Aon Abbas, Ejaz Chaudhry, Sajid Mir and Irfanul Haq Siddiqui on general seats; Azam Tarar and Syed Ali Zafar on the technocrat seats and Zarqa Suharwardy and Saadia Abbasi on the women seats.
In the federal capital, a one-to-one contest between Finance Minister Hafeez Sheikh and former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani would be held for a general seat while PTI’s Fauzia Arshad and PML-N’s Farzana Kausar would contest for a woman’s seat.
In Balochistan, 32 candidates would vie for 12 seats, including 16 for seven general seats and four for two technocrat seats. In KP, 11 candidates remained in the contest for seven general seats, five candidates for two technocrats’ seats, five for the women’s seats and four for a non-Muslim seat.
In Sindh, a total of 17 candidates remain in the contest – 10 for seven general seats, four for two technocrats seats and three for the two women’s seats.
A total of 37 senators — 12 each from KP and Balochistan, 11 from Sindh and two from Islamabad – will be elected on March 3. Two senators from Islamabad would be elected by the NA and the remaining to be elected by their respective assemblies.
Out of total membership of 104 in the upper house at present, three seats are lying vacant in Senate due to the death of PML-N Parliamentary leader Senator Mushahid Ullah Khan, the resignation of ANP Senator Sitara Ayaz and non-assumption of the office by Ishaq Dar after being elected as Senator.
Seven PPP senators completing their term in 2021 include Abdul Rehman Malik, Farooq Hamid Naek, Gianchand, Islamuddin Shaikh, Deputy Chairman Senate Saleem Mandviwalla, Sassui Palijo and Sherry Rehman.
Likewise, seven PTI senators would complete their term, including Brig (r) John Kenneth Williams, Liaqat Khan Tarakai, Mohsin Aziz, Nauman Wazir Khattak, Samina Saeed, Syed Shibli Faraz, and Zeeshan Khanzada would complete their term on March 11, 2021.
