Senate to discuss 18th amendment bill today

Senate would unleash a debate on the 18th Amendment Bill on Monday, Dunya News reported. However, the PML-Q supremo announce the other day to oppose the renaming of NWFP as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. During the course of the proceedings on Friday, Saleem Saifullah Khan and Fauzia Fakhruzzaman walked out of the Senate in protest at the decision to rename NWFP. Senator Talha Mehmood said the non-Pashtun population of the province was unhappy with the renaming of NWFP. He called on the government to consider the demands of the non-Pashtun population, otherwise a Balochistan-like situation would emerge in NWFP. The party position in the senate is: PPP 27 Senators; PML-Q 21 Senators, Independent Senators 11; JUF 9; PML-N 7; ANP 6; MQM 6; Jamaat-e-Islami 3, BNP 3 and National Party 2 while, JUI Sammiual Haq group, PML-F, PPP Sherpao, Jamhori Watan Party and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami party have one senator each. The PML-Q has 21 senators, including a few belonging to likeminded faction, in the house of 100 where 67 senators make a two-thirds majority required for approving a constitutional amendment.