When less is more: Fazl steals a march on political rivals
JUI-F Balochistan chief Ghafoor Haideri elected as deputy chairman Senate
JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman. PHOTO: AFP
ISLAMABAD:
Despite having merely five out of 104 members in the upper house of parliament, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman stole a march on other hopefuls for the slot of Senate’s deputy chairman by having his man elected.
The election of Ghafoor Haideri, a senator from Balochistan and a JUI-F stalwart, to the deputy chairman’s post is a testament to the sharp political maneouverings the party chief conducted. The feat pulled off by the shrewd Maulana left his rivals high and dry. Initially, four candidates had submitted their papers in the Senate secretariat for deputy chairman: Ghafoor Haideri of JUI-F, Shibli Fraz of PTI, Jahanzeb Mengal of BNP-M and Hafiz Hamdullah, a covering candidate of JUI-F.
But Jahanzeb Mengal and Hafiz Hamdullah later withdrew their nomination papers, setting the stage for a one-on-one fight between Ghafoor Haideri and Shibli Fraz. The former emerged victor by bagging 74 votes, with Fraz barely managing to collect 16 votes.
Earlier, the JUI-F chief successfully lobbied with opposition and government parties to win support for his party candidate during exhaustive negotiations on Wednesday and Thursday.
At one point, after failing to forge consensus over any name, the political parties agreed to give the mandate to the prime minister to nominate a consensus candidate for deputy chairman, but JUI-F managed to muster support of PPP, ANP and MQM and made the announcement through the media. This paved the way for a smooth sailing for Ghafoor Haideri.
A senior parliamentarian, who was part of the negotiations, said the JUI-F has become a compulsion for both PML-N and PPP because it did support for the PPP candidate Raza Rabbani despite being the coalition partner of the PML-N in the federal government.
And it was also a need of the PML-N because on the one hand it is a coalition partner in the centre and on the other, the PML-N needs its support in Balochistan because an in-house change is on the cards in the province by the end of this year.
The insiders shared that initially Maulana Fazal was interested in nominating his younger brother Maulana Attaur Rehman for the deputy chairman slot, but the government and the opposition parties did not accept this choice.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 13th, 2015.
Despite having merely five out of 104 members in the upper house of parliament, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman stole a march on other hopefuls for the slot of Senate’s deputy chairman by having his man elected.
The election of Ghafoor Haideri, a senator from Balochistan and a JUI-F stalwart, to the deputy chairman’s post is a testament to the sharp political maneouverings the party chief conducted. The feat pulled off by the shrewd Maulana left his rivals high and dry. Initially, four candidates had submitted their papers in the Senate secretariat for deputy chairman: Ghafoor Haideri of JUI-F, Shibli Fraz of PTI, Jahanzeb Mengal of BNP-M and Hafiz Hamdullah, a covering candidate of JUI-F.
But Jahanzeb Mengal and Hafiz Hamdullah later withdrew their nomination papers, setting the stage for a one-on-one fight between Ghafoor Haideri and Shibli Fraz. The former emerged victor by bagging 74 votes, with Fraz barely managing to collect 16 votes.
Earlier, the JUI-F chief successfully lobbied with opposition and government parties to win support for his party candidate during exhaustive negotiations on Wednesday and Thursday.
At one point, after failing to forge consensus over any name, the political parties agreed to give the mandate to the prime minister to nominate a consensus candidate for deputy chairman, but JUI-F managed to muster support of PPP, ANP and MQM and made the announcement through the media. This paved the way for a smooth sailing for Ghafoor Haideri.
A senior parliamentarian, who was part of the negotiations, said the JUI-F has become a compulsion for both PML-N and PPP because it did support for the PPP candidate Raza Rabbani despite being the coalition partner of the PML-N in the federal government.
And it was also a need of the PML-N because on the one hand it is a coalition partner in the centre and on the other, the PML-N needs its support in Balochistan because an in-house change is on the cards in the province by the end of this year.
The insiders shared that initially Maulana Fazal was interested in nominating his younger brother Maulana Attaur Rehman for the deputy chairman slot, but the government and the opposition parties did not accept this choice.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 13th, 2015.