ISLAMABAD: The upper house of parliament on Tuesday saw a charged Shah Mehmood Qureshi launch a scathing tirade against opposition leader Yousuf Raza Gilani, warning the opposition not to rely on the ‘compromised leader’.

The foreign minister, who was to deliver a policy statement on the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, devoted a substantial part of his speech in the Senate to criticism of the former prime minister and questioned how Mr Gilani could have become leader of the opposition when the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had more seats.

The salvos fired on the floor of the house did not go unanswered, however, and Mr Gilani termed the minister’s remarks “contempt of the Senate”.

The foreign minister, who also hails from Mr Gilani’s hometown of Multan, wondered why the opposition did not consider seasoned politicians such as Raza Rabbani and Sherry Rehman for the leadership role.

He alleged that Mr Gilani was elected to the Senate through horse-trading, adding that a video of his son buying votes had done the rounds on social media. He recalled that it had been decided that the opposition leader would come from the PML-N, which had the most seats, and wondered how Mr Gilani had been elected as leader of the opposition.

Minister tells Senate SBP still answerable to parliament; Sherry Rehman says no past government allowed IMF so much influence

He also rejected the opposition leader’s announcement that he would resign, saying this was a mere drama and that Mr Gilani would continue to cling to his office.

Mr Qureshi said the opposition leader had explained the reasons for his absence from the house on the fateful day when the SBP bill was passed, but said that many within the opposition’s ranks appeared dissatisfied. He also rejected Mr Gilani’s claim that he was informed about the bill too late, asking how could the leader of the opposition be so unaware when the SBP bill had been passed by the National Assembly and would obviously come to the Senate next.

He also took aim at the former PM for inviting Senator Dilawar Khan, who leads an independent group of six parliamentarians, to discuss the SBP bill but failing to keep the appointment himself.

The foreign minister also said that Mr Gilani had not read Rule 240 — which gives the Senate chairman a casting vote in the event of a tie — before accusing the chair of being partial.

Responding to Mr Qureshi’s volleys, Mr Gilani told reporters at his office in Parliament House after the Senate session that the foreign minister had “stooped so low, without rhyme or reason”. “Has my election as a senator angered him today?” asked Mr Gilani, who was elected to the upper house on a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ticket from Islamabad in March of last year.

His party colleague Taj Haider regretted the attempt to divide the opposition, saying: “We condemn this campaign and ask those pointing finger at [the opposition leader] to recall his great sacrifices for the party; he remained in jail for ten years and resigned as PM for the sake of the party.”

SBP bill

Controversy over the SBP bill also continued on Wednesday, despite Mr Qureshi’s attempts to placate the opposition. In his policy statement before the house, he said the central bank would remain answerable to parliament.

The minister maintained that under the new law, the prime minister and the cabinet had the power to appoint the bank’s board of governors and that SBP reports would remain subject to parliamentary scrutiny and open to lawmakers’ recommendations.

PPP Senator Taj Haider accused the treasury benches of trying to divide the opposition, pointing out that the same government, which had conceded that it was compelled to pass the mini-budget and the SBP bill as they were required by the International Monetary Fund, had now changed its position and was celebrating this ‘economic surrender’ as a victory.

However, he conceded that mistakes were made in the past as well, recalling how his the NAB amendment bill was defeated by one vote when 17 of their members were absent from the house. He also conceded that it was their shortcoming that they could not convince independent senators of their view on the implications of the SBP bill.

PPP parliamentary leader in the Senate Sherry Rehman recalled that her government had in 2013 empowered the State Bank and allowed it to be autonomous, within certain limits, to maximise its functionality as a regulator.

“The purpose of the central bank is to facilitate price stability; in PPP’s time it did just that and it led to economic prosperity in Pakistan. No one from the opposition has denied that we also took part in IMF programmes,” she said.

However, she maintained that there had been more than 20 such programmes in the past, but previous governments had never allowed the IMF to have complete power over policy, the way we are seeing today.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2022