ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Wednesday elected various public officials to the post of chairman within different standing committees.
Pakistan People’s Party senior leader Senator Sherry Rehman has been elected as the chairperson of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs.
It is relevant to mention here that Sherry Rehman has been a member of the Senate of Pakistan since 2015.
Sherry was the first woman Leader of the Opposition in the Senate from March to August 2018 and served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States from 2011 to 2013.
Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed has been elected as chairman of the Senate Standing Committee for Defence.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Senator Abdul Qadir has been elected as chairman of the Senate Standing Committee for Petroleum. The term of Abdul Qadir, who was elected with a unanimous vote, will be for three years.
Senator Faisal Javed has been elected as chairman of Standing Committee for Information and Broadcasting.
Moreover, Senator Ali Zafar has been elected as chairman of Senate Standing Committee for Law and Justice. Zafar was elected to the post of the committee’s chairperson unanimously.
The law and justice committee is arguably the most important one in the upper house and is responsible for all laws enacted in the Parliament.
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, Senator Sami Yazdi and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Senator Faisal Javed, Dr Wasim Shehzad and PPP Senator Palwasha Khan also attended the meeting.
The elections of the chairmen and chairpersons of various standing committees of the Senate were held a day earlier at the Parliament House.
When asked about barring the media from attending the election of chairmen of the standing committees, Yousaf Raza Gillani said that the government informed them about this issue. He said that they hope that the media will not be kept away from the meetings of these committees.
