Gilani resigns as opposition leader in Senate

Says ‘some turncoats’ accused him of helping govt in getting SBP Amendment Bill passed

ISLAMABAD:

Leader of the Opposition in Senate Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani announced on Monday that he has resigned from the post of the opposition leader amid harsh criticism over his absence from the last session when the government passed a bill giving complete autonomy to the State Bank of Pakistan.

Gilani, who along with other opposition senators has been accused of lending support to the government in the passage of the SBP Amendment Bill 2021, revealed on the floor of the upper house that he has already sent his resignation to the party leadership over the allegations that he supported the government on the bill by staying absent.

In a disheartened tone, Gilani said that “some turncoats” accused him of helping the government, adding that criticism from the ministers would have been an honour for him while accusations from well-wishers were astonishing.

“I am not astonished by the harsh words from my opponents, but I am astonished by the silence of my well-wishers,” he said, apparently after coming under fire by the opposition lawmakers, including his party colleague Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar.

In his speech, the PPP leader also questioned the role of the government and Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, saying including a bill at the eleventh hour on the agenda was “incorrect” and casting a tie-vote by the chairman for the first time in the history in favour of the treasury benches contradicted the notion of impartiality attached to the chair.

Read SBP bill puts ‘national security’ at risk

Without wasting time, the Senate chairman chided the opposition benches saying that he was neutral and did not take any sides, adding that the opposition had failed to complete its numbers and was now alleging that the chair was biased.

Meanwhile, the government side continued celebrating victory by teasing Gilani on the pretext that the passage of the bill became possible only after the “cooperation extended by him”.
Leader of the House Dr Shahzad Waseem while responding to the PPP leader’s speech said the treasury benches were “thankful” to the PPP leader for skipping Friday’s session.

Dr Waseem rejected the technical issues raised by Gilani, saying the rules allowed the same and in the past supplementary agendas were issued even when the Senate session was underway. “I don’t think that his argument holds any weight,” he said.

Once again, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry took a jibe at PPP, noting that Gilani was an “honorable man” and that it would have made more sense if PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari or co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had resigned as they were the ones who had allegedly instructed the party members to stay away from the session.

He went on to add that senior leadership of the PPP and PML-N were “embarrassed” over the behaviour of their parties’ leadership. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill thanked Gilani for his “cooperation” in passing the bill, saying giving resignation was understandable now.

In a shocking revelation, the SAPM tweeted that “a few days ago, opposition leader in the National Assembly also offered his resignation on the condition that he be allowed to go abroad”. Taunting the opposition parties, Gill said that those who had been asking Prime Minister Imran Khan to quit office were now submitting their resignations.

Soon after Gilani’s speech and Senate chairman’s remarks of being neutral, Senator Dilawar Khan also cleared the air about his group of six senators supporting the government on SBP bill, maintaining that the group was independent and did not take anything from the treasury or opposition benches but decided to vote in favour of the bill as it was in the interest of the country.

Revealing that Gilani had asked him to come for a meeting at his office but he himself was absent, Dilawar said Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen met him and observed that it was in the interest of the country to get the bill passed.

“Our group is a giver and not a taker,” Dilawar said while responding to the criticism that the independent senators sat on the opposition benches but supported the treasury.

Dilawar went on to say that his group had voted for Gilani in the Senate elections because it did not know PML-N candidate for the opposition leader’s slot in Senate, Azam Nazir Tarar. “Check how many members of PPP, PML-N and other parties were absent instead of pointing finger at us,” he said.

Not long ago, PPP and PML-N were at loggerheads over Senate’s leader of the opposition slot after PTI-backed candidates, Sadiq Sanjrani and Mirza Muhammad Afridi, defeated PDM’s joint candidates – Gilani and JUI-F’s Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri – even though the numbers favoured the opposition alliance.

On Friday, Gilani had preferred to attend a Fateha of an old friend over the sitting of the Senate that led to handing over absolute autonomy to the central bank despite the fact that the opposition parties were opposing the bill tooth and nail.

It had emerged that some members of PML-N, JUI-F, and PkMAP refrained from attending the session while a lone member of the ANP also skipped the final voting, helping the government get the bill passed with one vote majority.

For the government, passing the SBP bill from the parliament was important to fulfill a condition of the International Monetary Fund. After the approval of the bill from both the houses, the government has met the IMF condition and is expecting to get the next tranche of $1billion out of the $6 billion bailout programme in February.

Bilawal rejects resignation

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari refused to accept the post of opposition leader.
The Bhutto scion regretted the “partisan role” played by Senate chairman in passing the bill and maintained that in siding with the government Sanjrani had once again “tainted his office and set a most unfortunate precedent”.

Bilawal appreciated Gilani’s statement on the floor of the Senate, wherein he had said that PPP was the only political party whose representatives felt accountable to the people. Sources in the party said that the PPP leader had announced tendering his resignation as a sign of protest against his own party senators who openly criticised him.

Gilani, it was said, relayed his concerns to the party chairman, who assured him of full party support.