ISLAMABAD: The Pakis­tan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has given PPP a wish list of the Senate’s standing committees it wants to be headed by its members.

Sources in the PTI told Dawn that the party had provided a list of seven committees to Saeed Ghani, the PPP’s parliamentary leader in the Senate, and asked him to negotiate with the government on its behalf.

“The PTI’s first choice is the chairmanship of committees on water and power and petroleum and natural resources because the two subjects are related to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which is ruled by the party,” said PTI’s parliamentary leader in the Senate Nauman Wazir.

He said the party had nominated Shibli Faraz and Mohsin Aziz for the chairmanship of the two committees.

He said Mr Faraz could manage the affairs of the petroleum and natural resources committee and Mr Aziz was the best choice for the water and power committee since he had command on power-related issues, he said.

In reply to a question, Mr Wazir said that PTI’s future relations with PPP in the Senate depended on the decision on the issue of the committees.

“If we do not get the chairmanship of the two committees, we will continue to play the role of an independent opposition group in the house,” he said.

The list provided by the PTI, according to the sources, also contained the names of the committees on finance, commerce, foreign affairs, cabinet secretariat and textile industry.

Leader of House in the Senate and PML-N Chair­man Raja Zafarul Haq said the PTI had demanded the chairmanship of the committees on which the PML-N and the PPP had already reached an understanding.

But he expressed the hope that the issue would be amicably re­­solved since his party was ready to accommodate the PTI in the Senate. He said PML-N and PPP would probably surrender one of the agreed committees for the PTI.

Mr Ghani said initially the PTI had given the list of only two committees but on his insistence it had added more names to the list.

Mr Faraz said the PTI would have no complaint if it was given the chairmanship of any of the two committees from the list it had provided to PPP.

He said they had submitted the list of only those committees on which they could play an effective role.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2015

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