ISLAMABAD: Dr Jahanzeb Jamaldini of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) was elected unopposed on Tuesday chairman of the Senate’s functional committee on rules and privileges as a result of an understanding between him and the ruling PML-N.

Soon after his election as chairman of one of the important committees of the house, Dr Jamaldini said he would try to create a sense of harmony between the treasury and opposition benches and maintain the level of performance of the committee.

The BNP-M senator said he would strive to protect the integrity of Senate as an institution, the government and the country.

Interestingly at the time of Dr Jamaldini’s election, only the PPP’s Saeed Ghani and Zahida Khan of the Awami National Party were present in the meeting of the committee. But after his election, the PML-N’s Saud Majeed and Attaur Rehman of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) also joined the meeting.

Mr Ghani, who had proposed Mr Jamaldini’s name for the post of the committee chairman, urged the panel to take up the privilege motion about pending legislation on local government elections in Islamabad in the next meeting due to urgency of the matter.

The Election Commission of Pakistan has fixed July 25 as the polling date.

The office of the committee’s chairman had fallen vacant after resignation of the earlier chairman Saleem Zia of the PML-N. He had been asked to vacate the seat after the party agreed to give the post to the lone BNP-M senator Dr Jamaldini, who had been a strong critic of the PML-N government’s policies in his speeches in the Senate.

Mr Zia, who resigned not only as chairman but also as a member of the committee, is expected to be given another important position in the Senate for the sacrifice he had rendered by tendering his resignation on the directive of the PML-N leadership.

Following the parliamentary tradition, the government and the opposition had agreed after the Senate elections in March that chairmanship of committees of the house should be given to political parties in accordance with the number of their seats in the 104-member Senate. Given the total number of the standing and functional committees of the house, each party was to get the chairmanship of a committee for every three of its senators.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2015

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