Senate opposition leader: PML-N nominates Dar

Names forwarded to Senate chairman, JUI-F puts forth its own candidate.

ISLAMABAD:

Speculation regarding the next leader of the opposition in the Senate ended on Saturday after the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) formally nominated Senator Ishaq Dar for the slot, securing the mandate of 25 legislators including two factions of the PML.

PML-N’s Ishaq Dar and Maulana Ghafoor Haidri of the JUI-F have emerged as front-runners in the race after days of hectic negotiations. Party representatives have been engaged in garnering support from unlikely allies since the departure of former leader of the opposition, Senator Wasim Sajjad of the PML-Q after his party joined the federal government.

Five dissident senators of the PML-Q, Jamal Khan Leghari, Naeem Chattha, Gulshan Saeed, Tariq Azeem Khan and Syed Javaid Ali, however, announced their decision to sit on the opposition benches.

The PML-N, which has only seven members in the Senate, succeeded in brokering a deal with the like-minded faction of the PML after Ishaq Dar affirmed his party’s support for the nomination of their candidate for the slot of deputy opposition leader.

The PML-N submitted an application bearing the signatures of 25 senators after it managed to win over an assortment of seven minority political parties and breakaway groups. PML (like-minded), PML-Q (independent), PPP-Sherpao, Jamat-e-Islami, Balochistan National Party, Pakhtunkwa Milli Awami Party and Jamiat al-Hadith pledged their support to Senator Dar.

Senator Tariq Azeem of the PML-Q, who is heading the newly formed self-styled independent group, claimed that they had not endorsed the nomination for a deputy opposition leader in the Senate. He said the office of deputy opposition leader did not exist in the current setup. He did confirm, however, that his group seconded Senator Dar.

Senator Salim Saifullah Khan of the like-minded faction had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) during a meeting with Dar and Parvez Rashid. Senators Haroon Khan, Ghaffar Qureshi, Gulshan Saeed, and Senator Fauzia Zaman, and Ajab Gul Surni were also present on the occasion. In addition to the PML-N, JUI-F leaders also held consecutive meetings with Senator Saifullah Khan at his residence regarding the election of the opposition leader.

Saifullah said that Dar was an economist and his selection was the best choice keeping in view the economic impasse, after signing the MoU. He also mentioned that a strong opposition is the ultimate guarantee in the success of any government.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2011.