ISLAMABAD: A member of the ruling PML-N from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) on Wednesday indicted his own government for not doing enough to shun the menace of horse-trading in the Senate elections.

On an otherwise listless day at the National Assembly, Shahabuddin Khan made a short yet passionate speech condemning everybody and anybody who was allegedly engaged in the buying and selling of votes for elections to the upper house of parliament. He then walked out from the house.

Know more: ‘Stopping horse trading in Senate polls not possible’

Mr Khan, one of the three PML-N legislators out of 12 MNAs from the tribal areas, rued the fact that despite his raising the issue at relevant forums — both houses of parliament and as well as the parliamentary affairs division — nobody cared and now “we have reached the stage where people are openly sealing deals for Senate seats with impunity”. Had people at the helm of affairs taken notice of this issue on time, “we might have averted a crisis about which every political party is raising its voice now”, he said.

He regretted that the mode of election for Fata senators was far removed from all other existing systems of election the world over, where each MNA casts four votes for four Senate seats. According to Mr Khan, he had suggested to his government in writing that instead of just 12 MNAs from FATA, the entire National Assembly should vote for Senate candidates from the tribal areas, but nobody heeded his proposition.

Mr Khan urged his fellow lawmakers to do something to counter what he called “corruption-riddled electioneering for Senate”, which over the years had come to be accepted as a norm in national politics. “Maybe we can start working from today to have clean Senate elections next time,” he said.

The irony for Shahab-uddin Khan, which he also shared with his colleagues on the house floor, was that of the 11 sitting MNAs from Fata, six members (mostly independents) have formed a group, rendering the remaining five meaningless. “With six MNAs having formed a watertight group, we have become valueless,” he said.

In his outburst, Mr Khan accused the group of six of engaging in outright horse-trading. “I can testify under oath that they are selling their votes in return for land and hard cash.”

PPP walkout

Towards the end of the session, the veteran Yousaf Talpur, on a point of order, highlighted what he called the plight of sugarcane growers in Sindh. Mr Talpur said there was no end to the sufferings of growers in his province as they were denied due price of their produce. “It’s not only the sugarcane, in case of other commodities too, Sindh’s farmers have always been at the receiving end.” To record his protest, Mr Talpur and other PPP members of the National Assembly staged a token walkout.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2015

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