Raja Zafarul Haq convenes opposition's meeting; Senate session postponed
President Arif Alvi has summoned the session of the upper House on August 1 at 2pm.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The Rehbar Committee – the anti-government alliance of the opposition parties – on Tuesday convened another meeting to formulate its next course-of-action over the matter of de-seating the chairman of the Senate.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Raja Zafarul Haq was presided over the meeting of 52 members of the opposition.
The meeting was attended by several senators, including Sherry Rehman, Sassui Palijo, Karishna Kumari, Pervez Rashid, Mustafa Khokhar, Hasil Bizenjo, Ghafor Haideri, Abdul Quyyum, Nizhat Sadiq, Robina Khalid, Atta-ur-Rehman, Tahir Bizenjo, Asif Kirmani and Rahila Magsi among others.
Sources told that joint opposition parties have already obtained the required majority in the Senate to de-seat the senate chairman – as in the 104-member house, from the current 103 members; the support of only 53 senators is required for the senate chairmanship. The opposition parties collectively have the support of 65 senators.
On July 9, the opposition parties in the Senate submitted a resolution for de-seating Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani by bringing a no-confidence motion against him.
The resolution signed by 38 senators has already been submitted to the secretary of the Senate. Moreover, opposition members have submitted a requisition for convening a session of the Senate.
Importantly, the opposition has nominated National Party’s (NP) Hasil Bizenjo as its joint candidate for the chairmanship of the Senate.
Senate session postponed
On the other hand, a Senate’s session on Tuesday was postponed after a short resumption as demanded by the opposition.
Meanwhile, Raja Zafarul Haq stated that the voting on a no-confidence motion filed against Sanjrani would be held on August 1. He demanded delay in the proceedings of the upper House due to voting on August 1.
Sanjrani had said that no-confidence motion against the chairman Senate could not be moved in the requisition session of the Senate and it can only be held in a regular session summoned by president.
President Arif Alvi has summoned the session of the upper House on August 1 at 2pm at the Parliament House in Islamabad.
