Opposition nominates Raza Rabbani for Senate chairmanship

Opposition parties have decided to leave the post of deputy chairman for a candidate from Balochistan

The opposition parties has nominated Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani as their candidate for Senate chairmanship, Express News reported.

The decision to nominate Rabbani was announced after a meeting of the alliance of opposition parties held at Zardari House in Islamabad late on Monday.

The meeting was attended by the representatives of PPP, Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PLM-Q).

The opposition parties have also agreed to leave the post of deputy chairman for a candidate from Balochistan, however no name for was brought forward.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, who also attended the meeting, will announce his support for the opposition candidates after consulting his party members.

Sixty one-year-old Rabbani, a former advocate of the Supreme Court, has served multiple terms in the Senate and is the chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security. He has been affiliated with the PPP since 1968, of which he is the deputy secretary general. Rabbani was also federal minister of state for law and Justice in the mid-90s.