• Dilawar Khan defends bloc’s decision to vote in govt’s favour
• Bill seeking formation of Hazara province lands in Senate

ISLAMABAD: The controversy over the passage of the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Act 2021 continued to haunt the Senate on Monday as opposition leader Yusuf Raza Gilani offered to step down over his absence from the house during the passage of the key legislation.

At the very outset of proceedings, Mr Gilani, who was one of eight opposition lawmakers absent from the upper house the day the SBP bill was put to vote, said he had submitted his resignation to the party leadership, adding: “I do not want to be leader of the opposition”.

However, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) sources said the party chairman had refused to accept the former prime minister’s resignation.

During his speech, Mr Gilani took exception to the accusation “levelled by some turncoat” that he helped the government. He also questioned the role of the Senate chairman, who he said had played the role of a facilitator for the government, stressing that his position warranted neutrality.

He pointed out that the agenda for Friday’s session was issued hours before it was slated to take place, arguing that lawmakers should have been given more time to discuss the legislation.

He recalled that there was a tradition of taking all parties into confidence before taking up an important agenda item and regretted that the business advisory committee had not been convened to discuss the SBP amendment. He also said the bill had been passed without being referred to the concerned standing committee.

But Dr Shahzad Wasim, leader of the house in the Senate, defended the chair’s right to vote, saying that it was strictly in accordance with the rules. He said that under Rule 240 of the Rules of Procedures and Conduct of Business in the Senate, the chair does not vote except in the event of a tie.

He said that when the votes were equal, the chair had the casting vote. He also chided the opposition by thanking all those who voted in favour of the bill, as well as those who abstained.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Senator Faisal Javed taunted Yusuf Raza Gilani, saying that the opposition leader does not need to give any explanation. He said whether it was done on purpose or not, Gilani’s absence served the national interest.

The senator also said that with each of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s successes, cracks in the opposition ranks came to the fore.

A number of opposition senators also tried to defend their actions on that fateful day. Awami National Party Senator Haji Hidayatullah tried to defend his party colleague Nawabzada Umer Farooq Kasi, who had left the house before the SBP bill was put to vote, saying that Senator Kasi did vote on the motion seeking permission to introduce the bill, but left the house due to certain commitments.

Senator Dilawar Khan, who heads a group of six independent senators, four of whom attended Friday’s session and voted in favour of the SBP bill, said his group was never a part of the PPP.

He revealed that while the opposition leader had invited him for consultation on the SBP bill, Mr Gilani was not present when he went to his office for the meeting.

He said that Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, Science and Technology Minister Shibli Faraz and Railways Minister Azam Swati met with him and explained the features of the bill, which convinced him to voting for it.

He said that members of his group had never allied themselves with any opposition party and were a separate identity.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Senator Saadia Abbasi said that Gilani was a respectable person who had sacrificed his premiership for the rule of law and principles, and asked the PPP leadership not to accept his resignation.

She said senators from all the main opposition parties were absent on the day and noted that “we should accept our responsibility”.

Reacting to Gilani’s resignation offer, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that it made more sense for PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari or co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari to resign since the senators failed to turn up on their directions.

Hazara province

As a bill seeking the formation of the Hazara province landed in the Senate, State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan said there should be more administrative units in the country,

The bill, introduced by JUI-F Senator Muhammad Talha Mehmood, was referred to the concerned standing committee.

Speaking on his bill, Senator Mehmood explained that the country was facing a plethora of issues due to its population, which stood at over 210 million. He insisted that Pakistan needed swift decision-making, which was only possible if those who held power were well-versed with the problems of those areas.

“There is a need to make more provinces. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly adopted a unanimous resolution on Hazara province on March 25, 2014 and recently, it was reiterated when the assembly again passed a resolution unanimously,” he pointed out.

Since PTI, PPP and JUI had supported it, he emphasised, this bill should be adopted unanimously since the creation of administrative units was imperative for the resolution of the people’s problems.

State Minister Ali Mohammad Khan said that while PTI and PPP were on one page regarding the South Punjab province, PML-N may also support it on political basis.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2022