Govt buys more time on Senate no-trust move

Alvi summons session on Aug 1 for vote

ISLAMABAD: Buying more time for the countering the opposition parties’ no-confidence move against the Senate chairman, President Arif Alvi on Sunday summoned a session of the upper house of parliament on August 1 for a vote on the motion and it has not been included in the agenda of the one requisitioned on July 23 (Tuesday).

Voting on the no-confidence motions against both the Senate chairman and deputy chairman will take place on August 1.

Sources in the Senate secretariat said opposition members would only be allowed to speak on the no-trust confidence against the chairman during the session requisitioned on July 23.

The agenda for the requisitioned session would be prepared on Monday (today).

On Saturday, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani summoned a session of the upper house of parliament on July 23 on the requisition of the opposition.

The session will convene at 3pm, according to a notification issued by the Senate secretariat.

On July 18, 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.

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

Sanjrani summons Senate session on Tuesday

On Friday, Senator Hasil Bizenjo, the opposition parties’ joint candidate for the top Senate slot, warned that any attempt to delay the no-confidence motion against the chairman of the upper house of parliament would be in violation of the constitution.

Earlier, the opposition parties in a letter informed the secretariat that there was no provision in the constitution that prohibited moving a no-confidence motion in a requisitioned session.

Senator Sherry Rehman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said the opposition had submitted a no-confidence motion to the secretariat in accordance with the provisions of the constitution.

“The requisition was submitted as per the rules and regulations,” she added.

“After July 9 when the requisition was submitted, a session has to be convened within 14 days.”

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 (PTI) 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.

In a tit-for-tat move, senators of the PTI and its allies also moved a no-confidence motion against Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla, who is from the PPP.

The motion, signed by 26 senators, was submitted in the Senate Secretariat.

In March last year, in a major blow to the then ruling party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Sanjrani was elected the Senate chairman with the support of PTI, PPP and a bloc of independent lawmakers.