Opposition leader’s choice divides Senate

Haideri’s appointment sparks heated debate in the upper house.

ISLAMABAD:

Former opposition leader, PPP stalwart Raza Rabbani on Wednesday refuted the contention that Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri’s controversial appointment as leader of opposition is justified on the basis of JUI-F’s numerical superiority in the Senate.

“Since the rules are silent on the opposition leader’s appointment, Chairman Senate Farooq H Naik should take guidance from precedents,” said Rabbani. “The first ever leader of the opposition, Khwaja Muhammad Safdar was supported by only two members.” The opposition leader should represent a combination of political parties, he added. To resolve the controversy that emerged after Haideri was appointed the new opposition leader, Chairman Senate invited senators to submit their points of view. During former dictator Pervez Musharraf’s rule, the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) 79 MNAs while the MMA had 68, but the Speaker ruled in favour of the MMA, Rabbani contended.

A group of 25 opposition senators from various political parties nominated PML-N’s Ishaq Dar as a candidate for the office of opposition leader. The JUI-F  nominated Haideri with the support of 11 members. The party also lured five independent senators from treasury benches to cross the floor.

“Independent members may express in writing if they wish to join a political party in the House or state their preference for treasury or opposition benches within two weeks of taking oath,” Rabbani pointed out. He said the Political Parties Act had not been extended to Fata but members elected as independent candidates were free to join any political party. He stated parliamentary proceedings could not be challenged in any court of law.

However, PML-Q’s SM Zafar and Waseem Sajjad were of the opinion that numerical strength should be considered as the criterion for the opposition leader’s appointment. They maintained that it was the Senate chairman’s discretion to appoint Haideri and that PML-Q dissidents’ votes against party policy cannot be considered while the right of independent members to vote cannot be denied. Rabbani seconded PML-Q’s senators and said the dissidents’ voting rights constituted an intra-party dispute and needed to be resolved by the party. “It is not within the Senate chairman’s domain to determine their [dissidents’] status,” said Rabbani.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 23^rd, 2011.