ISLAMABAD: Eight members, among them four from opposition parties, were elected unopposed as chairmen of different standing committees of the Senate on Tuesday.

The members elected from the opposition side belong to the PPP, MQM and PTI.

PPP’s Rehman Malik will head the standing committee on interior and narcotics control and Mohsin Aziz of the PTI was elected as the chairman of the committee on textile industry.

Take a look: Opposition to lose leadership of four key Senate committees

MQM’s Tahir Hussain Mashhadi was elected as the chairman of the committees on planning, development and reforms whereas Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif of the MQM will head the committee on ports and shipping.

Besides, two members of the JUI-F and one each of PML-F and PkMAP were also elected as heads of the committees on Tuesday.

Mr Talha Mehmood and Hafiz Hamdullah of the JUI-F will be heading the committees on cabinet secretariat and religious affairs, respectively, whereas Usman Kakar of the PkMAP will head the committee on less-developed areas.

Muzaffar Hussain Shah of PML-F was re-elected as the chairman of the committee on food security.

The election was held in a cordial atmosphere and the names of chairmen were proposed and seconded by different political parties in accordance with an understanding had already been reached between the government and opposition parties.

Ms Nasreen Jalil and Tanveerul Haq Thanvi of MQM were elected as heads of the committee on human rights and housing and works, respectively, on Monday.

Besides them, Salim Mandviwala of PPP was elected as chairman of the finance committee whereas PTI’s Shibli Faraz was elected as the chairman of the commerce committee.

Of a total of 34 Senate committees, elections of chairmen of only 12 committees have been completed.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2015

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