ISLAMABAD: The opposition has agreed to surrender chairmanship of four key standing committees of the Senate under a deal with the government, according to sources.

They told Dawn that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N and the main opposition Pakistan People’s Party had reached an understanding under which the opposition parties, except the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), would get the chairmanship of up to 17 of the 34 committees.

However, the sources said, the PPP had agreed to give the chairmanship of four important committees — water and power, foreign affairs, law and justice and rules and privileges — to the PML-N. The panels were previously headed by opposition members.

Take a look: PML-N, PPP eyeing key Senate committees

Former senator Zahid Khan of the Awami National Party was head of the committee on water and power and the ANP’s Haji Adeel was chairman of the foreign affairs committee. The committee on rules and privileges was headed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Tahir Mashhadi and the law and justice committee by Kazim Khan of the PPP.

The sources said the chairmanship of the 17 committees would be distributed among five opposition parties — the PPP, PML-Q, ANP, MQM and the Balochistan National Party-Awami.

Despite getting the highest number of seats in last month’s Senate elections, the PML-N is still in a minority in the house where the PPP is the largest party with 28 senators.

Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq and PPP’s parliamentary leader Saeed Ghani had been given the task by their parties to negotiate the distribution of chairmanship of yet-to-be constituted committees.

Under the agreement, the important committees whose chairmanship would go to the opposition parties are defence, finance, interior, petroleum and natural resources, information and broadcasting, railways and science and technology.

Sources in the PPP said that since the PTI had not supported the nomination of Aitzaz Ahsan as the leader of opposition in the Senate, the former did not plead the case for the latter while negotiating a deal with the PML-N.

“It is now up to the PTI to negotiate with the government on its own to get the chairmanship of committees it wants,” said a PPP leader who had been involved in the process.

Similar was the situation for the members from Fata, he added.

Traditionally, the chairmanship of the committees is given to the parties in accordance with the number of their seats in the 104-member house. Given the total number of the standing and functional committees of the house, each party may get the chairmanship of a committee for every three of its senators.

Under the agreed formula and given the party position, the ruling PML-N and its allies are expected to get chairmanship of nearly one dozen committees.

Meanwhile, the senators have yet to submit to the Senate secretariat the names of the committees they would like to join despite a request by Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani to do so by Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2015

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