ISLAMABAD: Senate Chair­man Sadiq Sanjrani on Thursday notified Sherry Rehman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) as the leader of opposition in the upper house of parliament, making her the first woman to get the office in the 45-year history of the Senate.

Ms Rehman has replaced her party colleague Aitzaz Ahsan, who retired after completion of his six-year term as senator on March 11.

Former PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto had the distinction of becoming the first woman prime minister in the Muslim world and she also served as the first woman opposition leader in the National Assembly in the 1990s.

The Senate secretariat on Thursday notified the appointment of Ms Rehman as the opposition leader, dashing all the hopes of Azam Khan Swati of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), the other aspirant to the office.

Opposition divided into groups; 17 independents join PML-N

Ms Rehman enjoyed the support of 33 opposition senators who had endorsed her nomination for the office. Besides 21 members of her own party, one senator each of the Awami National Party and the Balochistan National Party-Mengal, six independents from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and four independents from Balochistan were among her supporters.

Mr Swati could get the support of only 19 senators — 12 from his own PTI, five of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and two of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI).

Meanwhile, the Senate secretariat issued another notification, stating that of the 28 senators who had returned to the Senate as independent candidates, 17 had decided to sit on treasury benches whereas 11 had opted for opposition benches.

Among the 17 senators who have decided to sit on treasury benches, 15 are those who had submitted their nomination papers as Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidates, but later had to contest the elections as independents as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision to remove Nawaz Sharif from the office of the party president just days before the Senate elections.

Mushahid Hussain Sayed, who had also contested the election as a PML-N nominee from Islamabad, but as an independent candidate, told Dawn that the 15 senators — two each from Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 11 from Punjab — had formally joined the PML-N and had informed the Senate secretariat about their decision in writing.

Besides the 15 senators, he said, two Fata senators — Mirza Muhammad Afridi and Shamim Afridi — had also joined the PML-N.

The 15 senators who have joined the PML-N are: Hafiz Abdul Karim, Dr Asif Kirmani, Dr Asad Ashraf, Haroon Khan, Kamran Michael, Rana Mahmoodul Hassan, Rana Maqbool Ahmed, Musadik Malik, Shaheen Khalid Butt, Nuzhat Sadiq, Sadia Abbasi, Dilawar Khan, Sabir Shah, Asad Junejo and Mushahid Hussain Sayed.

Divided opposition

The first challenge for the newly-appointed opposition leader Sherry Rehman will be to unite the opposition groups to give a tough time to the government in the Senate.

Presently, the 52-member opposition in the 104-member house is divided into two major groups — one headed by Ms Rehman and the other by Mr Swati, who had announced forming his own group in the house. Besides them, six Fata senators have also announced formation of an independent group under the leadership of Aurangzeb Khan.

The Senate secretariat also issued a notification in this regard, stating that Fata senators Hidayatullah Khan, Hilalur Rehman, Momin Khan Afridi, Sajjad Hussain Turi and Taj Muhammad Afridi have formed an independent group and nominated Aurangzeb Khan as their parliamentary leader.

Interestingly, instead of extending felicitation to Ms Rehman on her appointment as the opposition leader, Mr Swati in a statement thanked the MQM and the JI members for their support to him.

He alleged that the PPP had caused damage to the opposition’s unity in the Senate.

The JI had already announced that it would not become part of any opposition alliance and would maintain its independent status in the Senate.

When contacted, Ms Rehman thanked the opposition members for reposing confidence in her and vowed to take all opposition parties along with her on all issues.

Replying to a question, she said the Fata senators’ group could not be termed a separate opposition group as they had supported her nomination. She said that in the future, the PTI would also come to them as they would not be able to do legislative business without the support of other opposition parties.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2018