ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday presided over the first meeting of the joint opposition of the upper house since his election, which demanded that the fate of Senator Dilawar Khan’s group six members must be decided to ascertain whether the group stood with the treasury or the opposition.

The meeting, held in the chamber of Mr Gilani in Parliament House, raised multiple issues right from the “lopsided” attitude of Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, non-effectiveness of standing committees, non-entertaining of thorny questions of the opposition, giving less time to the opposition members to speak on the floor of the house and why the opposition faced defeat on several occasions in the house despite having majority.

The joint opposition stressed the need for unity in its ranks to move no-confidence motion against the Senate chairman, if he did not mend his ways and failed to maintain balance between the opposition and the treasury.

The issue of the absence of Mr Gilani in a recent session of the upper house in which a controversial bill, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Amendment Bill, 2021, was passed on Jan 28 was also discussed.

Need stressed for unity to move no-trust move against Senate chairman

The Dilawar Khan group, which sits on opposition benches and often votes for the treasury side, had also voted for the passage of the SBP-bill.

A source privy to the in-camera meeting told Dawn that Senator Mussadik Malik of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) raised the issue of the Dilawar Khan group and urged Mr Gilani that the fate of the group must be decided so that everyone in the house could know on which side the group stood.

They were of the view that expelling the six-member group from the opposition benches would not affect the opposition as it would still retain the 51-member majority in the house of 99.

The meeting asked Mr Gilani to write a letter to the Senate chairman to ascertain whether Senator Dilawar’s group was with the opposition or with the government.

However, a divide was apparent even in the PML-N on the issue of absence of Mr Gilani on the voting day on the government’s SBP bill which ensured approval of the bill.

Attitude of the chairman

The joint opposition expressed displeasure over the mistrust and differences in its own ranks and called for unity in the opposition’s ranks so that no confidence motion could be presented against the Senate chairman for his lopsided attitude.

The meeting was apprised that the Senate chairman gave extra time of up to 15 minutes to each treasury member while members of the opposition were given only two to three minutes to talk on any issue.

The meeting was informed that written questions of the opposition were not entertained during the question hour and they usually lapsed after two months.

The meeting noted that some questions were “intentionally” ignored by the Senate chairman especially related to Tosha Khana, where gifts given to prime minister, president and ministers were kept, but were skipped many times in the recent past.

The opposition also stressed the need for making all standing committees more effective and deplored that the Senate chairman had made them “toothless” after snatching powers from the chairmen of the committees and barring them from forming any sub-committee and inviting any bureaucrat or person from outside without his permission.

Gilani’s press talk

Later, Mr Gilani held a press conference after the meeting and said that the Senate chairman should mend his ways and run the house in accordance with the rules of business.

He said he had informed Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman about the role of Senator Dilawar’s group which always supported the government.

Mr Gilani said the meeting paid tribute to the people of Kashmir and armed forces.

“We stand by armed forces and ready to extend all sort of cooperation,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2022