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| May 20, 2005 | Friday | Rabi-us-Sani 11, 1426 |
Senate body amends rules of procedure: Appointment of opposition leader
ISLAMABAD, May 19: The Senate Standing Committee on Rules and Procedure and Privileges on Thursday approved an amendment to the existing rules of procedure, withdrawing the chairman’s discretionary power to appoint leader of the opposition, sources told Dawn. The sources said under the new proposed rule, the Senate chairman would be bound to notify the name of the person as the opposition leader who would have the support of a majority of the opposition members.
The chairman will ask the candidates for the position of the opposition leader to submit the lists carrying signatures of their supporters in the house, and it will be binding on him to name the opposition leader within three days of the election of the leader of the house, they added.
According to the sources, the proposed amendment was moved by opposition Leader in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani, People’s Party Parliamentarians Senator Farhatullah Babar and Raza Mohammad Raza of the Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party.
Meanwhile, an official handout issued by the Senate Secretariat after the meeting stated that the committee members had felt it had become necessary and expedient that the rules be reviewed, revised and updated.
The meeting presided over by Senator Prof Mohammad Saeed Siddiqui was attended by Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sher Afgan, Minister of State for Law, Justice and Human Rights Shahid Akram Bhinder, Opposition Leader Raza Rabbani, Naeem Chattha, Kamil Ali Agha and Asfandyar Wali. Senators Sadia Abbasi, Prof Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, Prof Khursheed Ahmed, Dr Khalid Ranjha, Raza Mohammad Raza and Farhatullah Babar attended the meeting on special invitation.
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