Opposition leader’s position: PTI claims PPP submitted some fake signatures

Azam Swati says PPP’s submission of nomination papers right now lacks any legal cover

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday claimed that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has submitted some fake signatures of senators in its bid for nomination of Sherry Rehman for the office of the leader of opposition in the Senate.

The PPP’s Sherry Rehman on Thursday submitted her nomination for the slot of the Senate’s leader of opposition with 33 members supporting her bid. Apparently support of 33 senators is more than the required strength to get its senator appointed for the office.

However, talking to The Express Tribune, the PTI’s nominee for the slot of opposition leader, Senator Azam Swati, claimed that Sherry’s nomination paper even included (fake) signatures of an independent senator from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) who has already announced joining the PTI.



Quoting Rule 16 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, Swati said the whole exercise of submission of nomination papers by the PPP even before announcement of parties’ position in the house lacks any legal cover.

Citing Section 2 of Rule 16, Swati said the chairman shall inform the members about the date, time and place for submission of a name for the leader of the opposition under their signatures: “Provided that an independent member including a member from Fata… who has not given his option to join the opposition… shall not be eligible to support any member for the office of leader of the opposition.”

Swati asked how come the PPP managed to obtain signatures from independent senators from Fata and Balochistan in favour of Sherry before commencement of defined procedure under ‘Declaration of Leader of the Opposition’ in Senate Rules.

He said the independent senators on Friday (yesterday) received a notification from the Senate Secretariat in which they have been directed to inform the secretariat if they would be sitting on treasury or opposition benches.

“Senators are directed to clarify their status till March 22,” Swati said adding that rules provide that submission of nomination papers exercise would be initiated once the senators’ position was clear.

“Signatures on the nomination papers of Ms [Sherry] Rehman have no legal value. The PTI condemns the whole exercise of submitting fake signatures by the PPP, which is totally uncalled for,” Swati added.

The PTI chief Imran Khan on Friday also tasked the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak to play his role in winning over support of opposition senators in favour of PTI’s nominee.

A senior PTI leader who wished not to be named claimed that before the elections of Senate chairman and deputy chairman, Dr Qayyum Sumro on behalf of the PPP had assured the PTI of his party senators’ unconditional support for the PTI’s nominee for the opposition leader in case they vote for Saleem Mandviwala.

He claimed there are undeniable proofs of that commitment given to the PTI by the PPP. The PTI leader said due to that commitment, all 12 senators of the PTI voted in favour of Mandviwala. “It’s just an unwise move on the part of PPP that will create trust deficit and rifts among the opposition in parliament,” he added.

He said the PTI had recently contacted leaders in the PPP who had given commitment to the PTI and soon accepting their mistake the PPP would withdraw its nomination. He said talks in this regard were under way and situation would be clear in next week.



PTI swings into electionsmode

A meeting of the PTI Core Group chaired on Friday at Bani Gala by the PTI chief Imran Khan also decided to formally launch campaign for the next general elections. The party announced that the general elections campaign would be kicked off formally on April 29 with a massive public gathering in Lahore.

“Imran Khan will announce the PTI’s manifesto for the 2018 general elections in Lahore rally and after that he will visit whole Pakistan addressing public gatherings and sensitising the general public about corruption of the rulers,” a PTI spokesperson said.

The party decided to unearth corruption of PML-N especially in Punjab and PTI Anti-Corruption Cell (Punjab) has been asked to start work on it.