Top slots to be filled after consultations: Firdous

Refuses to comment on speculation about the nomination of Awan and Nayyar for Senate positions.

ISLAMABAD:

Information Minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has said that the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) would nominate its candidates for the offices of chairman and deputy chairman Senate in consultation with coalition partners.

“Consultation with coalition partners is in underway while the PPP leadership has given mandate to its party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari to nominate chairman and deputy chairman for the upper house of Parliament,” the minister told a news conference in Islamabad on Wednesday.

Firdous said that the first phase of the Senate election has completed while the appointment of a new chairman and his deputy would be made soon.

However, she hinted that the PPP may prefer a candidate from Balochistan for the slot of deputy chairman.

To a question, the minister declined to comment on speculation regarding the nomination of Babar Awan and Nayyar Husain Bukhari for the slot of chairman and deputy chairman.

She also commended the government for successful legislations, adding, that the unanimous passage of Industrial Relations Bill 2012 by the Senate on Wednesday was a landmark achievement of the present democratic setup.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 8^th, 2012.