Parliamentary leader appointment: Zaheer, Maneka threaten each other with de-seating

PML-Q, Unification Bloc leaders reiterate old positions on parliamentary propriety.

LAHORE: The spar between the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) and its dissident Unification Bloc, over whether or not the latter can have a parliamentary leader in the Punjab Assembly shows no signs of letting up.

If anything, things are about to get ugly since spokespersons for both parties have re-asserted their stances. The Unification Bloc, which on February 15 succeeded in getting separate seats in the House after proving a 47-34 majority over the PML-Q, claims that Dr Tahir Ali Javed, their declared parliamentary leader should be recognised so. The PML-Q, meanwhile, maintains that only Chaudhry Zaheeruddin, the incumbent who was nominated the opposition leader by Pervaiz Elahi, was eligible to hold the position and that the Unification Bloc could not have its own parliamentary leader.

The assembly speaker has referred the Unification Bloc’s plea that they be allowed to appoint their parliamentary leader to the Law Department.

Chaudhry Zaheeruddin told The Express Tribune that he plans to serve show-cause notices to all 47 members of the Unification Bloc. “The Bloc’s written application that they submitted to the Speaker, asking for separate seats in the House, is enough for me to serve them notices since I am the nominated parliamentary leader. If their explanation fails to satisfy me then I will send the ‘defection declaration’ to the presiding officer (Punjab Assembly speaker), who under the constitution, is supposed to entertain my request within two days,” Zaheeruddin said. He said that his last resort would be to move the Lahore High Court against the dissidents.

“Dr Javed, who enjoys the support of the biggest party in opposition, is the real parliamentary leader not Chaudhry Zaheer,” is how Unification Block central leader Ata Muhammad Maneka responded to Zaheeruddin’s statement. “According to the The Political Parties Order, 2002 if majority members (more than half) prove their strength, they can automatically appoint their parliamentary leader, who can initiate legal proceedings against other members, including the ‘opposition leader’,” Maneka added.

Maneka warned of action against PML-Q members if they did not follow the party line.

Zaheeruddin issued a warning of his own, “I will have all Unification Bloc members de-seated through the Lahore High Court. I am astonished that they seem to have forgotten what happened with Saba Sadiq two years ago.” Sadiq, a Unification Bloc member cast her vote in favour of the budget draft, against Zaheeruddin’s instruction. After the speaker refused to entertain his objection, he moved the Lahore High Court, which directed the speaker to take action against Saba Sadiq. “The order has yet to be followed,” the opposition leader said. “I have always followed my party’s policy and was appointed by the party leader. It is alarming that the PML-N has turned to the politics of turncoats. But the Sharifs’ Changa Manga Politics will never succeed,” he added.

Maneka brushed off any threats of action saying, “Many other PML-Q members will soon join the Unification Bloc.

How will Chaudhry Zaheer perform his role as leader of the opposition with a handful of members? Is it democratic if the head of a political party appoints, as parliamentary leader, a person who does not enjoy the support of the majority?”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2011.