ISLAMABAD: As many as 52 senators — 12 each from Punjab and Sindh, 11 each from Khyber Pakhtun­khwa and Balochistan, two from Islamabad and four from the Federally Admi­nistered Tribal Areas (Fata) — will retire on March 11 next year.

Eighteen of the 52 senators belong to the Pakistan People Party Parliamen­tarians (PPP-P), nine to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), five are from the Awami National Party (ANP), four each belong to Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), three to Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), two to Balochistan National Party-A (BNP-A), and one each to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F). Five independents will also complete their tenure next year.

Prominent among those who will retire include Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Leader of the Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan, Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Farhatullah Babar, Azam Swati, Kamran Michael, Shahi Syed, Kamil Ali Agha, Talha Mehmood, Tahir Hussain Mash­hadi, Nasreen Jalil and Ilyas Bilour.

The PML-Q will have no representation in the house after March as all its four senators will retire.

The senators from Punjab who will retire next year nclude M. Hamza (PML-N), Kamil Ali Agha (PML-Q), Muhammad Mohsin Khan Leghari independent), Muhammad Zafar­ullah Khan Dhandla (PML-N), Saud Majeed (PML-N) in place of Malik Rafique Rajwana, Sardar Zulfikar Khosa (PML-N), Asif Saeed Kirmani (PML-N) in place of Dr Babar Awan, Aitzaz Ahsan (PPP-P), Moham­mad Ishaq Dar (PML-N), Khalida Parveen (PPP-P), Nuzhat Sadiq (PML-N) and Kamran Micheal (PML-N).

The 12 senators who will complete their six-year tenure from Sindh are: Murtaza Wahab (PPP-P) in place of Saeed Ghani (PPP-P), retired Col Tahir Hussain Mashhadi (MQM), Karim Ahmed Khawaja (PPP-P), Maulana Tanveerul Haq Thanvi (MQM) in place of Mustafa Kamal, Raza Rabbani (PPP-P), Mukhtar Ahmed Dhamrah (PPP-P), Syed Muzafar Hussain Shah (PML-F), Muhammad Farogh Naseem (MQM), Taj Haider (PPPP) in place of Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Nas­reen Jalil (MQM), Saher Kamran (PPP-P) and Hari Ram (PPP-P).

The 11 retiring senators from Khy­ber Pakhtunkhwa will be Ahmed Hassan (PPPP), Baz Muhammad Khan (ANP), Haji Saifullah Khan Bangash (PPP-P), Azam Khan Swati (PTI), Muhammad Talha Mehmood (JUI-F), Nisar Muhammad (PML-N), Shahi Syed (ANP), Farhatullah Babar (PPP-P), Ilyas Ahmed Bilour (ANP), Rubina Khalid (PPP-P) and Zahida Khan (ANP).

The senators from Balochistan who will complete their term are: Muhammad Daud Khan Achakzai (ANP), Maulana Hafiz Hamdullah (JUI-F), Mir Israrullah Khan Zehri (BNP-A), Muhammad Yousuf (PPP-P), Nawabzada Saifullah Magsi (PPPP), Saeedul Hassan Mandokhel (PML-N), Sardar Fateh Muhammad Muhammad Hasni (PPP-P), Mufti Abdul Sattar (JUI-F), Rozi Khan Kakar (PPP-P), Naseema Ehsan (BNP-A) and Rubina Irfan (PML-N).

Four senators from Fata — Hida­ya­tullah, Hilalur Rehman, Malik Naj­mul Hassan and Muhammad Saleh Shah (Independents) — and two from Islamabad — Osman Saifullah (PPP-P) and Mushahid Hussain Sayed (PML-Q) — will also retire next year.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2017