Upper House: Leader of house, opposition in Senate tender resignations
Ishaq Dar and Farooq Naek leave office to enable adjustment following change of govt.
Senator Ishaq Dar. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
The opposition leader in the Senate and leader of the upper house of Parliament tendered their resignations on Tuesday from their respective offices.
Opposition leader, Senator Ishaq Dar, and leader of the house, Senator Farooq H Naek, submitted the resignations to the chairman to enable fresh adjustment in the house following the transition of power from the Pakistan Peoples Party to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.
According to rules, the leader of the house is the representative of the prime minister and is supposed to be nominated from the government’s side. After the formation of the new government, the PML-N Senators will sit on the treasury benches. Thus outgoing leader Naek had to relinquish the office after the PPP was defeated in the May 11 general elections.
The chairman will now nominate opposition leader from the party which will form the largest opposition and the slot is likely to be given to a PPP member, which is the leading party in the upper house with 39 out of 104 Senators.
After the formation of the new government, there is the possibility that most of the Senators are likely to switch sides within the Senate, including independent Senators, particularly from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Sources said that Senators from the tribal areas have already started manoeuvring in this regard and several meetings were also held.
But PML-N may not be in a position to bring an in-house change even with the support of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, Baloch nationalists and independent Senators unless it succeeds in breaking up the PPP’s stronghold in the Senate.
PML-N has to wait till March 2015 when 50% of the Senators will retire and it will then be in a position to strengthen itself in the upper house.
Ezhaar Imrohi, a PPP leader said Naek made the decision as per the democratic norms so the new prime minister can nominate his own leader of the house.
“As per the rules, an in-house change can be brought by moving a no confidence motion, yet PML-N will require support of political parties which were part of the former PPP-led coalition. I don’t think that it will happen before 2015,” said Imrohi.
Currently with 39 senators, the former ruling PPP is leading in Senate with the support of its former allies- Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) and Awami National Party (ANP) – both with 5 and 12 senators each – an edge to PPP which will dominate the 104-member house with 56 senators.
They said that if Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) with its seven senators continues to support PPP in the senate, the strength will be 63 and then it would not be an easy task for PML-N to bring an in-house change even with the support of JUI-F, Baloch nationalist parties and independent senators.
It was also learnt that PML-N was also not in a hurry to bring any in-house change and break the loyalties of senators.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 5th, 2013.
The opposition leader in the Senate and leader of the upper house of Parliament tendered their resignations on Tuesday from their respective offices.
Opposition leader, Senator Ishaq Dar, and leader of the house, Senator Farooq H Naek, submitted the resignations to the chairman to enable fresh adjustment in the house following the transition of power from the Pakistan Peoples Party to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.
According to rules, the leader of the house is the representative of the prime minister and is supposed to be nominated from the government’s side. After the formation of the new government, the PML-N Senators will sit on the treasury benches. Thus outgoing leader Naek had to relinquish the office after the PPP was defeated in the May 11 general elections.
The chairman will now nominate opposition leader from the party which will form the largest opposition and the slot is likely to be given to a PPP member, which is the leading party in the upper house with 39 out of 104 Senators.
After the formation of the new government, there is the possibility that most of the Senators are likely to switch sides within the Senate, including independent Senators, particularly from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Sources said that Senators from the tribal areas have already started manoeuvring in this regard and several meetings were also held.
But PML-N may not be in a position to bring an in-house change even with the support of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, Baloch nationalists and independent Senators unless it succeeds in breaking up the PPP’s stronghold in the Senate.
PML-N has to wait till March 2015 when 50% of the Senators will retire and it will then be in a position to strengthen itself in the upper house.
Ezhaar Imrohi, a PPP leader said Naek made the decision as per the democratic norms so the new prime minister can nominate his own leader of the house.
“As per the rules, an in-house change can be brought by moving a no confidence motion, yet PML-N will require support of political parties which were part of the former PPP-led coalition. I don’t think that it will happen before 2015,” said Imrohi.
Currently with 39 senators, the former ruling PPP is leading in Senate with the support of its former allies- Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) and Awami National Party (ANP) – both with 5 and 12 senators each – an edge to PPP which will dominate the 104-member house with 56 senators.
They said that if Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) with its seven senators continues to support PPP in the senate, the strength will be 63 and then it would not be an easy task for PML-N to bring an in-house change even with the support of JUI-F, Baloch nationalist parties and independent senators.
It was also learnt that PML-N was also not in a hurry to bring any in-house change and break the loyalties of senators.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 5th, 2013.