Voice of opposition: ‘Senate tickets on sale at PM’s house’

LAHORE: Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chairman Tahirul Qadri said on Sunday people who had stolen from national wealth and amassed assets worth billions of rupees had closed the doors of the Senate on the poor.   He said tickets for Senate’s “horse and cattle show” could be purchased from the Prime Minister’s House. He was addressing PAT’s central executive committee meeting over telephone. The meeting was called in an emergency. The PAT chief said senate seats were being “bought and sold.”He said senate elections had reduced Pakistan’s electoral system to a joke.  He said aspirants for Senate had not been awarded party tickets, rather they had purchased them from their parties. “How can a person residing in one province contest elections from another province?” he asked.  He said the process had closed doors of the Senate on the poor.Qadri congratulated winning candidates of Lahore High Court Bar Association elections, saying they had been supported by lawyers affiliated with the PAT.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 2^nd, 2015.