Opposition senators to mull no-trust motion strategy today

Parties have asked all their members to ensure their presence at the meeting


Our Correspondent July 18, 2019
Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE

ISLAMABAD: The opposition senators will meet on Thursday (today) to review their strategy for the no-confidence motion against the chairman of the upper house of parliament and also the session being convened on their requisition.

The meeting will be presided over by the leader of the opposition in the house Raja Zafarul Haq of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). All opposition members have been directed to ensure their presence at the meeting. A delegation of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) headed by Senator Sherry Rehman will attend the meeting.

Opposition senators unlikely to get nod to table no-trust motion

On Tuesday, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani approved a notice for the “Motion for Removal of Chairman Senate” in terms of Rule 12 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 2012.

Accordingly, the Senate secretariat has circulated the notice among the members and written a letter to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs for further necessary action at its end.

However, it is still not clear that the no-confidence motion can be moved in a requisitioned or a regular session of the Senate.

Deliberations are under way at the Senate secretariat as to whether the opposition senators can table a no-confidence motion against the chairman during the session they have requisitioned.

Sources said the opposition senators might only be allowed to speak on public issues.

The secretariat is going through the rules of the house to see if the no-trust motion against the chairman can be tabled during the session.

The sources said under rule 218 of the Senate regulations, only public issues could be discussed during a session convened through a requisition.

Opposition submits no-trust motion against Senate chairman

They added that former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani would be allowed to speak on public issues on a rolling basis and the session could be adjourned in case the opposition senators stage a protest.

Earlier, the secretariat had raised an objection maintaining that it had received two separate requisitions by the same opposition members for convening a session.

On July 9, the opposition parties submitted a no-trust motion against the Senate chairman to the secretary of the upper house of the parliament to ramp up pressure on the incumbent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government.

The motion was submitted by Zafarul Haq, Sherry Rehman, PML-N leader Javed Abbasi and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam’s (JUI-F) Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri.

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