Senator Raza Rabbani. PHOTO: EXPRESS
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) retained the coveted office of chairman Senate for the third consecutive time as members of upper house of parliament – both old and the newly-inducted – elected Mian Raza Rabbani to the top office unopposed.
Rabbani is the third Senate chairman from PPP after Farooq H Naek (2009-12) and Nayyer Hussain Bokhari (2012-15) who had also been elected unchallenged.
The Senate elections were conducted on 52 seats and 48 members took oath on Thursday. After the elections, Senate has now representation of major political parties who have also representation in the National Assembly including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI).
Presiding officer senator Ishaq Dar made the announcement of Rabbani as the new chairman before administering oath as no other member had filed nomination papers to put up a fight.
On the other hand, there was a bit of surprise when Maulana Ghafoor Haideri of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) was elected as deputy chairman.
“I would say with abundant clarity that I would jealously guard sovereignty of parliament,” Rabbani said before taking oath while showing gratitude to his colleagues, party leadership and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for nominating him as a consensus candidate.
He said parliament and the Constitution were passing through a phase where “it needs to be guided and protected and I will try my level best… I hope to come up to the expectations of those who have bestowed upon me this enormous responsibility”.
In his brief speech, he also invited Speaker National Assembly to join hands in restoring the prestige of parliament and withstand in case of any assault.
It was for the first time that the chairman Senate, soon after being sworn in, took charge as acting president because Mamnoon Hussain is on a visit to Azerbaijan.
Earlier, both the new and old members paid rich tributes to the services of Raza Rabbani while recognising him as a great democrat, a constitutionalist, a committed federalist, a passionate human rights activist, a genuine political worker, a brilliant lawyer and a person of great integrity.
In addition, his role during the 18th Constitutional Amendment was appreciated by every speaker particularly from the smaller provinces.
However, it was Minister for Climate Change Mushahidullah Khan who welcomed as well as acknowledged Rabbani’s credentials in a literary fashion. He paid high tributes to Rabbani reciting a poem which was appreciated by every single member of the house.
Felicitating the new chairman, PPP senator Farhatullah Babar said Raza Rabbani commanded respect not only in the house but also outside parliament among the intelligentsia, the NGOs, the media and civil society.
Raza Rabbani is also confronted with equally formidable challenges as, during the past few years, parliament had come under pressure from some state institutions that tended to tread upon the domain of parliament.
A major reason of the systematic erosion of parliament was the civil-military disconnect and the refusal of the security establishment to submit to parliamentary sovereignty.
How chairman Raza Rabbani would steer the house to play his role in retrieving the lost ground and ensuring its supremacy will be the ultimate test of the new chairman, Babar said.
Complimenting deputy chairman Ghafoor Haidri on his election, the PPP senator said results of ballot showed that Haidri had won with overwhelming majority but the 10 extra votes cast to PTI candidate and the six rejected votes could also be seen as a protest by some members ignoring the party line.
“This pattern of voting conveyed a very meaningful political message that needs to be heeded,” Babar said.
Aitzaz Ahsan of PPP said, “Rabbani was the fittest person for the post,” and in the same breath lamented that “he should have been there long ago”. He stated that Rabbani was a symbol of democracy, federalism and politics of principles.
Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo said, “Political parties had chosen the best man in Senate as chairman.”
Mushahid Hussain Syed of the PML-Q praised Rabbani in a different way, saying “Rabbani is the first leftist to be the chairman Senate.” Raza is not a man of status quo, he added.
PTI’s Nauman Wazir assured the house to play a role in safeguarding the national interests while Muhammad Usman of PkMAP handed over a long list of issues to the new chairman. No interference in affairs of Afghanistan, no change in route of Pakistan-China Economic Corridor and matters related to royalty of the provinces were highlighted by Usman while asking the chairman to play his role.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 13th, 2015.
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