As 54 newly-elected senators entered the chambers of the upper house on Monday, victorious roars of “Zinda hai Bhutto, zinda hai” (Bhutto is alive) erupted, as Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) emerged as the single largest party in the house.
Former leader of the house, Syed Nayyer Hussain Bokhari, replaced Senate Chairman Farooq H Naek, while Senator Sabir Baloch took the place of Jan Muhammad Jamali as deputy chairman, after having been elected unanimously earlier in the day. Bokhari and Baloch will occupy these posts for the next three years.
Senator Farhatullah Babar reminded the new chairman that during the previous dictatorship the Senate secretariat had disallowed a large number of questions, motions and resolutions on the ground that the issues raised were of a sensitive nature. “Let Nayyar Bokhari not be remembered for killing parliamentary instruments in his chamber,” he said.
Senator Afrasiyab Khattak who was presiding over the session, however, quickly brought the session back to business and ended celebrations, requesting the house to maintain order as senators chanted pro-PPP slogans, saying, “We don’t have much time”.
Shake-ups in the house
The new Senate body also saw some novel changes – for the first time under the 18th Amendment, four minority Senators were elected from all the provinces. The new parliamentarians will remain in the upper house for a six-year term. The 50 colleagues they are joining will step down in three years.
Senator Ishaq Dar of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is likely to be the new opposition leader in Senate – but insiders say that if independent senators back the current opposition leader, JUI-F’s Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, he may continue in his position.
The question that everyone is asking, however, is who the post of leader of the Senate will to go to. With Bokhari elected as chairman, the seat is now vacant – and some of the names coming to the fore include a number of PPP heavyweights, such as the prime minister’s counsel Aitzaz Ahsan, Presidential spokesperson Farhatullah Babar, Raza Rabbani and the ever-controversial Babar Awan.
Balochistan issue
Soon after the oath-taking ceremony, it was back to business as usual in Senate, which took up the Balochistan issue and the role of intelligence agencies in the troubled province once again.
Some key senators also linked the issue of missing persons directly to intelligence agencies operating in the province.
New addition to the upper house and PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan immediately cut to the chase, emphasising that a paradigm shift was needed in Balochistan imminently. Ahsan added that legislation was needed to define the role of intelligence agencies in the province to ensure that “all institutions work under constitutional ambit.” While welcoming the four minority senators, he said the term “minorities” should be replaced with “better Pakistanis”, adding” “Minorities are the face of Pakistan – We should treat them as better Pakistanis.”
Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Senator Hafiz Hamdullah Saboor said that Balochistan issue should remain at the top of the agenda of the house. “It has become a litmus test for the democratic government to resolve this issue.” Senator Nawab Saifullah Magsi went a step further, saying that “There should be a clear-cut roadmap for the role of the Frontier Corps and other law enforcement agencies in Balochistan.” Mushahid Husain Syed called for implementation of the report of parliamentary committee on the Aghaz-e-Haqooq Balochistan package.
Haji Adeel of the Awami National Party said that instead of apologies some other steps were needed to reconcile Baloch leaders. He also spoke about the election of non-Muslims as president and prime minister of Pakistan.
The focus of National Party’s newly elected Senator, Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, was foreign policy, saying it should be “brought under parliament’s control,” in a reference to the military. He added that political cells in intelligence agencies should be disbanded.
Other matters of the house
Emphasising the need to improve Pakistan’s image, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Senator Babar Khan Ghauri stressed that the forthcoming budget should be relief-oriented. Voices were also raised against the opening of the air corridor for Nato supplies without waiting for the parliament’s decision on the nature of future relationship with the United States.
Meanwhile, Senator Dar was in an unusually cooperative mood, saying he was confident that the treasury and opposition benches would work together. He added that the 20th Amendment will help in holding free, fair and transparent elections.
Leading figures who took the oath today include Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khan Khosa from PML-N, Farhatullah Babar, Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Raza Rabbani, Aitzaz Ahsan and Babar Awan from the PPP, Mushahid Hussain Syed and Kamil Ali Agha from the PML-Q, Mustafa Kamal and Nasreen Jalil from the MQM, and Shahi Syed from the ANP.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 13th, 2012.
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hahaha..cannot stop laughing at people who think this is democracy? who are you kidding? hahaha... we dont have to wait for 6 years... anyone can buy these sellable commotdities at a given price... Ishaq Dar opposition leader? so who is the govt then? but there are some people who would not accept any logic... they would trumpet democracy even bilawal is the product of democracy? and what about nawaz sharif? they were elected by the people? and the bogus votes? i am waiting for the day when the people of pakistan elect a true representative govt and these looters will flee the country...
Aitzaz ahsan says that term “minorities” should be replaced with “better Pakistanis”. I ask him how they colud be better pakistanis in the presence of draconian laws. PPP has got reasonable majority now, So he should draft an amendment to honor them as 'better pakistanis'. Aitzaz needs to convince his Party and coalition partners in this regard. There is an urgent need to redo the objectionable clauses in the constitution. Because in the name of the religion, there have been serious human rights violations since 1973. This has made the lives of members of minority communities miserable. Vested interests have made the most of these draconian laws in the wake of personal hatred and killed many an innocent person in the name of blasphemy. There is a need to redo the law, removing the draconian clauses so that no vested interest should be able to exploit the law.
"Great day" for PPP to celebrate... True. When will be a day to celebrate for normal human beings in Pakistan??
This is bright day in democracy, because all anti democracy forces failed to stop this democratic process. It shows that our democratic system is getting robust and mature. Congrats to PPP with hope that senate will work to make Pakistan a progressive, tolerant, peaceful, and genuine democratic country. Democracy won today and all PPP bashers and anti democracy forces failed miserably in their negative designs against democracy.Congrats to All senators once again.
People have to be open minded and learn to live with their defeat. Once elected according to the constitution, they must complete their term. Wait in line for the next elections. Till then there are no changes of govt. This is great day in the history of Pakistan. Even if my favorite party or people are not elected still the democratic process is in place and moving forward. After a few successive elections the sieving process would bring much better people out. People of Pakistan are not dumb and second to none when it comes to their intelligence.
Opposition leader in senate should be from PML N ; however, not Dar.
Dar is too Dovish and relents on senstive issues , like syllabus making at a national level, remaning of NWFP ( which now has caused deep alienation amongst Hazara), etc.
Similarly Raza Rabbani needs to take a back seat. I feel he is criminally negligent beacuse on the confusion caused over FDA (or lack thereof, refer to Efroze scandal), lack on national health standards, lack of nation-wide eduational standards. There is also confusion on nation-wide electricty. 18th amendment has had terrible consequences!!!
Dark day for democracy in Pakistan. These thugs will have to be physically removed from the Parliament. Thuday maro inko!