Pakistan People’s Party’s Farooq Hameed Naek and Jan Muhammad Jamali of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid were elected unopposed as the chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate, respectively here on Thursday, as Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain decided at the eleventh hour not to contest the election.
Some diehard anti-PPP senators, strongly opposed to the unopposed election of the PPP candidate as the chairman, wanted someone from their side to contest the top post, but failed to force the leadership to review the decision taken in the Parliament House in the chamber of the outgoing Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Kamil Ali Agha, insiders told The News.
Presiding Officer Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi administered oath to Naek after announcing on the floor of the House that he had been elected unopposed. The new chairman administered oath to the deputy chairman-elect.
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani was given the vote of confidence by all the parties in the National Assembly last year. Despite a seething political crisis, all parties, except for the PML-N which boycotted the polls, participated in the process. The PML-N had backed Jamali’s candidature.
“Under an understanding, Chaudhry Shujaat did not contest, whereas Jamali was given go ahead to file his nomination papers to retain his slot,” said PML-Q Central Information Secretary Tariq Azeem while talking to The News here at the Parliament House.
The PPP with 27 senators is the largest party after the Senate elections, whereas the PML-Q now has 21 legislators in the House after losing 18 senators on March 11. Jamali, who is from Balochistan, is the first among 10 deputy chairmen who managed to retain his position since the Senate was established in 1973. Naek is the fifth chairman of the Upper House of Parliament and the PPP’s second. The Senate and the PPP’s first chairman was Habibullah.
Senators Shahid Hasan Bugti (JWP), Israrullah Zehri (BNP-Awami), Abdul Razzaq Thaheem (PML-Functional), Maulana Gulnaseeb (JUI-F), Islamuddin Shaikh (PPP), Haji Muhammad Adeel (ANP), Jehangir Badar (PPP) and Babar Ghauri (MQM) were the proposers of Naek, whereas Ahmad Ali (MQM), Prof Khurshid Ahmad (JI), Islamuddin Shaikh, Javed Ali Shah (PML-Q), Hafiz Rashid Ahmad (Fata), Haji Adeel and Salim Saifullah (PML-Q) proposed Jamali.
Naek and Jamali submitted their nomination papers to the Senate Secretary Raja Muhammad Amin, who waited till 1 pm, but no one turned up to file papers. The scrutiny of papers was carried out at 2 pm.
Earlier, some PPP activists in the visitors’ galleries chanted slogans of Long Live Bhutto and Long Live Benazir, as the senators-elect were administered oath by the Presiding Officer Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, who later had to allow some points of order. Taking the floor, Mian Raza Rabbani requested the visitors not to resort to sloganeering, as it was against the decorum of the House.
Prominent among those who took oath were PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, PPP Secretary General Jehangir Badar, Farooq H Naek and PML-N Chairman Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq.
Jamaat-e-Islami’s Prof Muhammad Ibrahim, on a point of order, objected to the oath-taking of members-elect, saying the oath was not being administered under the 1973 Constitution. However, Mian Raza Rabbani rejected his contention and said the oath was in accordance to the 1973 Constitution.
Abdur Rahim Mandokhail of the PkMAP, Muhammad Ishaq Dar of the PML-N, and Jamal Leghari of the PML-Q condemned the ongoing crackdown on thelawyers and politicians in connection with the long march and termed it as unconstitutional. They argued it was their fundamental democratic right to hold long marches and agitation.
Additional chairs were placed to accommodate visitors in the galleries from where Fakhar Imam and Begum Abida Hussain witnessed their daughter Sughra Imam being administered oath along with other senators. Several ex-senators were also present on the occasion.
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