ISLAMABAD: Differences between the opposition parties in the upper house of the parliament further intensified on Thursday as Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) boycotted the meeting convened for division of the chairpersons of the Senate standing committees between the treasury and opposition.
According to the sources, despite an invitation by Yousaf Raza Gillani, PML-N’s Musaddiq Malik did not attend the meeting convened to decide the matter.
According to sources in both the opposition parties, an important meeting was convened between the government and opposition delegations on the issue of formation of standing committees in the Senate.
The government delegation included Leader of the House Senator Shehzad Wasim, Federal Ministers Shibli Faraz and Azam Swati while the opposition was represented by Gillani and Senator Sherry Rehman. The PML-N delegation refused to attend the meeting of the government and opposition delegations.
According to sources, the PML-N has sought the chairmanship of 27 committees for the opposition in the Senate. Sources said that the opposition had proposed a formula of chairing 22 committees while the government would get chairpersonship of 16 committees.
