News Desk |
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its allies called on Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani on Friday in order to express solidarity with him after the opposition parties announced that they would adopt a constitutional way for his removal.
Reportedly, a delegation of the ruling party and allied parties visited the Senate chairman two days after a multi-party conference (MPC) attended by nearly all opposition parties decided to remove him.
Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Dr Fehmida Mirza said that the delegation called on the Senate chairman in his chamber in order to express solidarity and “strengthen his hands”.
In an important development at the All Parties Conference convened on June 26, the opposition parties have decided to bring a no-confidence motion against Senate chairman.
While talking to journalists after the meeting, the media reported, Mirza said that the government and allied parties’ members were of the view that Sanjrani was managing the Senate “in a totally neutral and an impartial manner which is the role of a chairman Senate or speaker”.
Surprisingly, he said that Sanjrani gave “excessive” time to the opposition members in the upper house. To this, Sanjrani said that he “knows what the conditions are down on the floor”. Mirza was quick to acknowledge that it was the discretion of the person in the chair to allocate time to parliamentarians. Sanjrani said that he has managed the upper house in a “completely balanced” way.
When asked to comment on the opposition’s resolve to remove him from his office, Sanjrani said: “I will not say anything on this matter.” The lawmakers who visited the Senate chairman included members of the PTI, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, Balochistan Awami Party and Grand Democratic Alliance.
Read more: Has Zardari’s engineered appointment of Senate chairman backfired?
Opposition United to Dethrone Sanjrani?
The opposition parties have joined hands to dethrone the Sanjrani – a senator from Balochistan who had defeated Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)’s candidate with the help of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and others in the Senate elections.
In an important development at the All Parties Conference convened on June 26, the opposition parties have decided to bring a no-confidence motion against Senate chairman. In addition, they decided that the opposition’s steering committee will decide the new member to be put for Senate chairman’s candidacy.
However, Pakistan’s leading English newspaper Dawn has reported that senators from PPP and PML-N have opposed passing the no-confidence motion against Sanjrani. While referring to a PML-N senator without revealing the identity, the paper has stated that the party members have refused to be part of the no-confidence motion.
Read more: PML-N, PPP join hands to remove Senate chairman
Similarly, the news item added, PPP leadership was advised against such a move by the party’s senators. The paper while referring to PML-N workers said that the only reason PPP had voted for Sanjrani was to oppose PML-N, adding that PPP had purposely chosen not to field Raza Rabbani as a candidate, despite being advised to.