ISLAMABAD: With the declaration of Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani as leader of the opposition in the Senate, the ruling coalition has played a smart stroke by further dividing the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance.
With the election of Gillani, a new parliamentary group of the opposition parties has emerged in the Senate.
The number of members of the new parliamentary group has increased to 30. According to sources, Senator Dilawar Khan has emerged the leader of an independent group in the Senate with five members.
The group formed under the leadership of Senator Dilawar Khan includes Senator Ahmed Khan, Senator Kahda Babar, Senator Samina Mumtaz and Senator Naseebullah Baazai. The five members of the new parliamentary group applied to make Gillani the leader of the opposition.
Moreover, the PPP got signatures to nominate Gillani as leader of the opposition of 21 senators of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), two Senators of Awami National Party (ANP) and one member of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI).
After becoming the leader of the opposition, Gillani told the media that the PDM is not over, Dilawar Khan has an independent group.
Dilawar Khan’s group has come to sit with us in the opposition. As leader of the opposition, we had to show the majority that we have shown. Gillani said that “the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) did not vote for me, not to be called the official opposition, we are together and will walk together, we want the PDM to remain united, there is no misunderstanding because of one step”. “Should be, I will take the PDM parties into confidence,” he added.
On the other hand, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ahsan Iqbal said that in his response to the election of Gillani as the leader of the opposition in the Senate, he said that the PDM parties had announced their support for Azam Nazir Tarar. “PPP senators should also have respected the PDM decision. The 27 PDM senators had Nazir Tarar. The specific senators with whose support the required number was obtained, everyone knows who said what,” he said.
This was a blow to the PDM’s goals, struggle and unity. The PML-N is expected to play a role in the Senate and National Assembly along with the parties agreeing to the PDM charter. He said that ANP has also taken a unilateral decision against the decision of PDM. “I will ask the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to take notice of [Prime Minister] Imran Khan for violating coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs),” he added.
Earlier, PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz had said that her party representative Azam Nazir Tarar would be the leader of the opposition in the Senate.
Addressing a news conference in Lahore on last Sunday, Maryam had made it clear that the opposition leader in Senate will be from her party as it was decided “in principle” at the PDM huddle ahead of elections for chairman and deputy chairman of the upper house.
She had said that when the leaders of the 10-party alliance met at Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s residence, they decided to support Gillani for Senate chairman, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) Abdul Ghafoor Haideri for deputy chairman, and a PML-N candidate for the leader of the opposition slots.
“Winning or losing Senate chairman poll was not discussed as a factor for any change in the decision,” she maintained, further reinforcing reports of rifts within the anti-government alliance.
Earlier in the day, Gillani along with the PPP leaders Rubina Khalid and Sherry Rehman had filed the application along with the signatures of a majority of the house members.
The PPP claimed to gain the support of four independent senators, namely Senator, Ahmed Khan, Senator Kehda Babar, Senator Naseebullah Bazai and Senator Dilawar Khan.
It is pertinent here to mention that the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday while citing Article 69 of the Constitution which bars courts from inquiring into the proceedings of the parliament, had dismissed Gillani’s plea against Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani’s election.
The court in its 13-page verdict had said that the petition to declare Senate chairman election results null and void, filed by Farooq H Naek of PPP on behalf of Gillani, is beyond the jurisdiction of the court.
Responding to the verdict, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had stated the polling process at a polling station cannot be described as parliamentary proceedings, adding that the PPP will exercise its legitimate right to go to an elevated forum for seeking justice under the principle that a presiding officer has no right to engineer the polling process and results.
He had said that the PPP believes in parliamentary and constitutional supremacy, admitting that the Constitution bars calling into question the proceedings of the parliament. “However,” he added, “this was not a proceeding of the parliament”.
He termed the so-called theft of Senate chairmanship as a “litmus test” for the democratic system, expressing the fear that such manipulations may occur again in the future.
He had maintained that the PPP candidate Gillani had a legal right to the position of Senate chairman. Bilawal underscored that the PPP had the right to knock on elevated forums and that the theft would not be allowed to stand.
On March 12, the ruling PTI-backed candidates grabbed the top slots of the Senate in a controversial contest. In the polls, incumbent Senate Chairman Sanjrani was re-elected. He defeated Gillani, a joint candidate of the PDM – an opposition parties’ alliance.
98 senators had exercised their right to vote, out of which seven votes – most of which cast in favour of Gillani – were rejected. Sanjrani who had received 48 votes as opposed to 42 votes of Gillani was later declared the winner by the presiding officer.
