Senate session today: PPP to move resolution in support of PM

PML-N plans to plead Senate chairman to bar Gilani’s entrance in the Upper House.

ISLAMABAD:

The Pakistan Peoples Party plans to move a resolution in the Senate calling upon Yousaf Raza Gilani to continue as prime minister despite his recent conviction by the Supreme Court and subsequent calls by opposition parties for his resignation.

The country’s highest court found Prime Minister Gilani guilty of contempt of court on Thursday for not writing to authorities in Switzerland to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

The resolution, likely to be moved in the Upper House today (Monday), might be the first in a series of such moves to express solidarity with the embattled premier.

All provincial assemblies, except Punjab, might also follow the move in a show of solidarity with the premier, who appears to be struggling to save his job.

“We fully stand by the premier and we will prove it [today],” said Senate Deputy Chairman Sabir Baloch, while urging the opposition to respect the mandate of parliament. “Yousaf Raza Gilani is the Prime Minister of Pakistan and he will continue to hold his office,” he added, and hoped the opposition would follow parliamentary traditions.

Monday (today) is the first day of the new parliamentary year of Senate where a heated debate on the Supreme Court’s verdict is expected.

The largest opposition – the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz – has already announced it would continue to force the ruling PPP to nominate a new prime minister.

“Gilani is no more the prime minister of Pakistan or a member of parliament,” said PML-N Information Secretary Mushahidullah Khan. “We will resist against his (Gilani’s) presence in Senate if he gets entry today (April 30),” he added.

Senator Pervez Rashid of PML-N said his party members will plead Chairman Senate Nayyar Hussain Bukhari to bar Prime Minister Gilani’s entrance in the Upper House as, according to him, he is no longer a parliamentarian. “He is stranger to this House now,” said Rashid.

New parliamentary year

The 81st session of Senate will exercise new rules which will bind the ministers and parliamentary secretaries to ensure their presence in the House during questions and answers session. There will also be a question and answer session at least once in the session in which the prime minister will participate to answer lawmakers’ questions.

The House may take up three private members bills today, when PPP Senators Raza Rabbani will move for leave to introduce a bill to further amend the Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1956. He may also move for leave to introduce a bill to further amend the Banking Companies Ordinance, 1962.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement Senator Abdul Haseeb may move for leave to introduce a Bill for the establishment of a Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan.

The House may also take up resolutions moved by PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar which state that the Senate may call upon the government to sign and ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances.

The Senate may also take up a resolution moved by Awami National Party Senator Shahi Syed on effective steps to deweaponise Karachi in view of the prevailing law and order situation in the city.

Senator Muddassir Sehar may also move a resolution for the establishment of a Legal Aid Desks in Pakistan embassies/missions abroad, while ANP senators Mohammad Adeel and Zahid Khan may move a resolution for the government to abolish cess/tax on the transportation of essential commodities to the Federally Administered Tribal Agencies.

The House may also take up a resolution moved by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Senator Talha Mehmood seeking to waive off loans of earthquake victims.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2012.