Gilani becomes Senate Opposition Leader amid PDM outcry

ISLAMABAD   -   PPP Senator Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani was appointed as the Opposition Leader in the Senate on Friday. The notification to this effect was issued by the Senate Secretariat. 

This appears to be another setback for the anti-government opposition alliance, the Pakistan Democratic Movement.

In pursuance of Rule 16 (3) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate 2012, the Chairman Senate Mohammad Sadiq Sanjrani has declared Senator Gilani as “Leader of the Opposition in the Senate” with effect from March 26, said a notification issued by the Senate Secretariat.

The Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) succeeded to get the slot due to the support of four independent senators besides two lawmakers of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and one of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI).

The opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) showed its concerns over the move of PPP and alleged that the party that was part of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), 10-party opposition alliance, had got the office with the support of ruling Balochistan Awami Party (BAP).

The Senate Chairman declared Senator Gilani the opposition leader due to having support of the majority lawmakers of opposition in the house after PPP submitted an application in his office nominating his name carrying signatures of 30 opposition senators in his support. Senator Gilani along with the parliamentary leader of PPP in the house Senator Sherry Rehman met Sanjrani to submit the nomination papers.

After the meeting, Rehman said that the application had been filed with signatures of 21 lawmakers from the PPP, two from the Awami National Party (ANP), one from JI, two from members belonging to FATA and four from the independent group led by Senator Dilawar Khan.

Rehman rubbished claims that move would prove as the “funeral” of the PDM saying that “this is the right of the PPP, we have 21 members.”

Earlier on Friday, an independent senator from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Dilawar Khan who was previously affiliated with the PML-N formed its separate parliamentary group in the house with the support of three other independent senators from Balochistan. These senators are Ahmed Khan, Kauda Babar and Naseebullah Bazai. These four senators signed the nomination of Senator Gillani as opposition leaders.

The two senators from erstwhile FATA Hillalur Rehman and Hidayat Ullah also signed nomination of Gilani. These two lawmakers were earlier affiliated with the treasury benches. JI Senator Mushtaq Ahmed which earlier had abstained from voting in the elections of Senate and its chairman and deputy chairman also signed the nomination of Gilani.

On the appointment of PPP’s lawmaker as opposition leader, the opposition PML-N said that PPP’s move was not only a serious blow to the anti-government alliance but also it has damaged the case of PDM that Sanjrani won the chairman Senate due to the seven rejected votes cast in favour of its candidate in the election of chairman Senate.  

“This is inappropriate that you approached the same chairman with the application to get your name appointed as leader of the opposition against whom you had approached the court that he was elected to this position through rigging,” PML-N senior leader Ashan Iqbal said while talking to reporters in Lahore. He also blamed PPP for getting the support of senators of ruling BAP—a reference towards the independent senators of Balochsitan who supported Gilani.

The rifts had emerged between the PPP and PML-N over the office of opposition leader in the Senate with both claiming their right to this position. The PML-N claimed that PDM had decided that the opposition leader in the Senate would be from it in return for nomination of Gilani for the office of Senate chairman.  

The PML-N had already submitted an application to the Senate Secretariat nominating its Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar as opposition leader. The application carried signatures of total 26 senators including 17 of PML-N, five of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) and two members each of the National Party (NP) and the Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP).

PPP maintained that it being the largest part on the opposition benches in the house has the right to nominate the opposition leader and the earlier decision of PDM stood revoked because Gillani lost the chairman Senate election.

Earlier this week, the president PDM Maulana Fazlur Rehman had launched back-door efforts to get the issue resolved and to convince the PPP to withdraw from its stated claim but to no avail.

Before this, PDM had faced a setback when PPP refused to tender en masse resignations from the assemblies. This decision forced the PDM to postpone its anti-government March 26 long march scheduled in Islamabad and the opposition alliance lost its momentum of movement aimed at depriving Prime Minister Imran Khan of power.

Gilani had been elected to the Senate as a result of March 3 election after a controversial but close contest in which he defeated the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s candidate Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.

He then contested the election for the Senate chairman as a nominee of PDM but lost to the PTI-backed Sanjrani after seven of his votes were rejected by the presiding officer.

Later, Gilani challenged this election before the Islamabad High Court but the higher court rejected his appeal on the grounds that proceedings of any house of the parliament were immune from the scrutiny of court.

Speaking at a news conference here, former Prime Minister and PPP leader Gilani said that the Pakistan Democratic Movement should not disintegrate as he was named the Opposition Leader in the Senate.

“We must not leave any parliamentary option unchallenged and that is the reason I contested Senate elections and defeated government’s candidate,” Gilani said

The newly-appointed Opposition Leader in the Senate was accompanied by former Prime Minister Raja Parvaiz Ashraf and former Chairman Senate and Secretary General PPP Syed Nayyer Hussain Bukhari during the press conference.

Gilani said the PPP did not violate any deal with the PDM and it was their right to have the opposition leader’s slot as the second largest party. “We are not any official opposition. We will take along all the opposition parties and move forward. We will protect the people’s rights,” he said.