Sanjrani acts as president as Alvi departs for Hajj

Acting president is likely to soon sign a bill passed by the NA reducing lifetime disqualification to five years

ISLAMABAD:

Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani on Sunday assumed the charge of acting President as President Dr Arif Alvi left for Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj.

According to a notification of Cabinet Division, the Senate Chairman assumed his duties as the President in Quetta.

The development comes at a key time as the National Assembly passed the Elections (Amendment) Bill 2023, reducing the term of any lawmaker's lifetime disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) to five years.

Through the new bill, the NA has approved key amendments in the Election Act 2017 whereby the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has been empowered to unilaterally announce election dates without the need to consult the president.

Read more: Dubai huddle may set stage for next polls

The law paves the way for self-exiled former premier and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, who was disqualified for life by the Supreme Court in 2018, to return to the country and enter electoral politics.

Similarly, the law allows former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Khan Tareen to enter electoral politics once again. Tareen, a sugar baron and now the chief of his own Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP), had been disqualified by the Supreme Court in a similar manner.

With the PTI-allied Alvi out of the country, acting president Sanjrani — who is affiliated with the ruling PDM coalition — is likely to sign the Elections (Amendment) Bill 2023 into law soon.

Meanwhile, important decisions are expected as key coalition government leaders are planning to meet Nawaz in Dubai to mull over a political strategy, including setting a date for the dissolution of assemblies, caretaker set-up and announcing the schedule for the upcoming general elections.

Also read: NA trims lifetime disqualification to five years

The three-time former prime minister, who had been residing in London for medical treatment since 2019, has made a momentous return to the political arena by jetting to Dubai.

PML-N Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz has also departed from Pakistan to join her father, setting the stage for a crucial meeting.

Initially, government sources claimed that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is also set to join the Sharifs on Saturday night, saying some other stakeholders were also expected to attend the Dubai huddle.

The sources said that the venue of the high-level meeting has been carefully chosen to avoid media scrutiny.

Since his self-imposed exile, Nawaz has rarely travelled out of London. Before Dubai, he has once travelled to Europe and recently went to Saudi Arabia, where Maryam had joined him.

The meeting between the bigwigs of the PML-N and the PPP is seen as significant and crucial as some sources say the huddle would decide the dissolution of the assemblies as well as the final date for the elections in the country.