ISLAMABAD: The federal government has agreed to hand over the chairmanship of the 10 standing committees of the Senate to the opposition coalition of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
According to sources, the PML-N parliamentary leader and chairman of independent opposition group in the Senate, Senator Azam Nazir Tarar and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) senators had met Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani and finalised the agreement.
During the meeting, Azam Nazir Tarar told Sadiq Sanjarani that PDM does not consider PPP’s Yousuf Raza Gillani as the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate.
The PML-N Senator said that the PDM senators wanted to head 10 standing committees. He said that PDM would not go to the leader of the opposition for this purpose and it wanted this honor to be given to the PDM group by the Senate chairman.
The Senate chairman agreed, promising to issue a notification next week to make it official.
According to the arrangement, the PML-N, the largest party in the PDM in terms of seats in the Senate, will get the chairmanship of six standing committees as it has a total of 17 senators. Four committees chairmanship will go to other smaller parties in the coalition, including the JUI-F.
The opposition alliance headed by Gillani will head 12 committees while the rest will be headed by the coalition government.
Senator Tarar will head the all-important joint committee of MNAs and senators tasked to decide the appointment of judges. The committee will meet soon to confirm the appointment of 13 judges of the Lahore High Court (LHC). All members of the committee chair this committee on rotational basis.
