Senate election: Arbab’s demands despite 4-year absence could be a game-changer

He wants to be the Opposition leader or he could spoil PPP chances of unopposed election.

KARACHI:

For the first time in about four years, the Sindh Assembly has taken notice of Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim’s empty seat. The timing is significant because of the Senate elections scheduled for March 2.

Rahim is in a position to bargain as his MPAs could prevent the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidates from being elected to the Senate unopposed. He is now interested in using this chip to press for the coveted post of the leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly.

“We have nominated three candidates on general seats and a seat reserved for women [for the Senate election],” said Razzaque Rahimoon, the party’s deputy parliamentary leader. “We would prefer to contest the election rather than leave the field open to the PPP to bag all the votes unopposed.”

Sources privy to the development told The Express Tribune that some PPP leaders are negotiating with Rahim. He appears to be adamant about either winning one Senate seat or the post of the Sindh Assembly Opposition leader, which has been vacant for about eight months as PML-Functional MPA Jam Madad Ali left it to join the government.

After the 20th Amendment was passed, the importance of the Sindh Assembly Opposition leader has gained weight because the leader of the House, the chief minister, has to form any caretaker government in consultation with them. The PML-Q (Likeminded) group is all too aware of this.

The PML-Q (Likeminded) has five members in the Sindh Assembly, who claim to be the real opposition. Some time ago, they had applied for Rahim to be appointed the opposition leader in the house. But this became a bone of contention as Rahim has a history of rivalry with the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party.

Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro said that he had received an application from PML-Q MPAs to declare Rahim the leader of the Opposition. But according to Khuhro, as PML-Q (Likeminded) is not registered as a parliamentary party with the election commission, he could not appoint their leader for the post.

The problem is that Rahim is vulnerable as he has missed assembly sessions since 2008. If an MPA misses a certain number of sessions, he can be disqualified. In Rahim’s case, he has been in Dubai all this time.

“The presence and consent of the man who is going to be the leader of the Opposition is mandatory at the time of his or her nomination,” explained Khuhro. “Dr Sahib is out of the country. He has sent an application that he could not travel due to his health, so how can one appoint him the leader of the Opposition?”

Khuhro said that the application of the three members is full of technical flaws as well. “How can one be eligible for the slot of Opposition leader if you have not attended the assembly sessions for an entire tenure?” he said. “Dr Arbab should realise that even though he has been absent from the assembly for four years, it has not disqualified him so far.”

But Rahimoon argued that Rahim is not the only one who has been absent from the assembly; a few PPP members fall in the same category. “Dr Sahib is on medical leave. If the assembly rejects his leave, recommending the election commission to disqualify him, we will challenge it in court,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th, 2012.