Sanjrani calls on Zardari to ‘inquire after his health’

Senate chairman met the former president in the chamber of PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s NA chamber

ISLAMABAD: In what is being seen as a significant development, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani called on Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari to “inquire after his health” on Sunday .

The Senate chairman met the former president in the chamber of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s chamber at the National Assembly.

The meeting lasted for around half an hour. After the meeting, Zardari accompanied Sanjrani till the door of the chamber to see him off and they embraced each other before he left.

Speaking to reporters, the Senate chairman said he had called on the PPP-co-chairman after finding out that he was ill and wanted to inquire after his heath. He maintained that no other issue was discussed in the meeting.

To a reporter’s question, Sanjrani said the opposition parties had no plans to de-seat him and that was why he nothing to worry about.

Rumours of opposition parties planning to table a no-confidence motion against the Senate chairman fizzled out after the parliamentary leader of the Awami National Party (ANP), a member of which first brought up the possibility of de-seating Sanjrani, seemed to be clueless of any related developments, while Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and the PPP leaders also distanced themselves or outright opposed the move.

“Sanjrani’s seat does not face any risk,” said Senator Jehanzeb Jamaldini, while noting that the chairman hails from Balochistan.

“The first thing is that such a move cannot be taken. PPP itself vested its confidence in Sadiq Sanjrani. How can it backtrack after electing him through a vote?”

PML-N Senator General (retd) Abdul Qayyum said that the Senate chairman was doing a wonderful job and that the rumours about his removal were baseless. “The party has not had any discussion on it,” he said.

PPP Senator Rehman Malik proposed that it would be better if the reports were verified.” In my opinion, this is only a wishful assumption and there is no reality in it,” he said.