March 16, 2003	Sunday	Muharram 12, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, March 15: The Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam) on Saturday nominated veteran parliamentarian Wasim Sajjad leader of the house in the Senate.

An official announcement of Mr Sajjad’s appointment came after a meeting between Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali, PML-Q President and parliamentary party leader in the National Assembly Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Mr Sajjad at the PM’s House on Saturday.

The meeting also discussed the political situation, the recent Senate elections, the Iraqi crisis and other party matters.

An official source told Dawn that the meeting discussed a strategy for the upcoming session of the National Assembly called for Tuesday on the requisition of the opposition.

The appointment of parliamentary secretaries in the National Assembly was also considered, when the prime minister asked for a meeting of the central working committee on March 20 when the appointments will be finalized.

Mr Wasim Sajjad was law minister during the Junejo government and was first elected as Chairman of the Senate when Mr Ghulam Ishaq Khan became president after the death of Gen Ziaul Haq.

Mr Sajjad remained chairman for more than a decade till the Senate as well as the National Assembly were dismissed by Gen Pervez Musharraf on Oct 12, 1999.

The tradition of appointing a leader of the house in the Senate was introduced by Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto when he had appointed Rao Abdus Sattar to this position in 1973. At that time the leader of the opposition in the Senate was Mohammad Hashim Gilzai.