ISLAMABAD: Lamenting the interference of the executive in the affairs of the legislature, the joint opposition on Friday decided to file a ‘no-confidence’ motion in the Senate on July 9 for the removal of Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani from office.

The decision to remove the chairman of the upper house of parliament was made at a multi-party conference held on June 26 and the opposition’s Rehbar Committee, which was formed to implement MPC decisions, decided to file the motion on July 9.

Rehbar Committee convener Akram Khan Durrani informed the media following a committee meeting that the joint opposition had unanimously decided to start constitutional process for removal of Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani on July 9.

Joint opposition to announce consensus candidate on 11th

He said the name of a consensus candidate of the opposition would be announced after the next meeting of Rehbar Committee on July 11.

The opposition wants to get Mr Sanjrani, a leader of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), removed from his office as he was a candidate of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf for the office of Senate chairman. The opposition claims that he always remains partial and defends the ruling party while presiding over the sessions of the upper house.

Mr Durrani of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F (JUI-F) has been made convener of the committee for two months after which the position will rotate among representatives of all member parties.

To lodge their protest against what it described as ‘rigged’ general elections 2018, the opposition had earlier decided to observe July 25 as ‘black day’ when a major public meeting would be staged in Lahore.

The Rehbar Committee also decided that all parties would ask their members to resign from the parliamentary committee on rigging in the general elections.

The JUI-F leader said a new political order was being introduced in the country.

“We condemn any such order as it will derail the democracy,” he added.

Mr Durrani said the opposition also rejected a decision regarding deployment of troops inside polling stations during elections in the tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The committee condemned the arrest of Rana Sanaullah, leader of the main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, and demanded production orders for Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir, both lawmakers of the National Assembly from tribal areas, so that they could attend the sessions of the lower house.

Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Ahsan Iqbal of the PML-N, former chairman of the Senate Nayyar Hussain Bokhari and Farhatullah Babar of the Pakistan Peoples Party; Usman Kakar of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Tahir Bizenjo of the National Party, Owais Noorani of the Jamiat Ulema Pakistan, Hashim Babar of the Awami National Party and Mian Iftikhar Hussain of the Qaumi Watan Party also attended the Rehbar committee meeting.

Ex-PM Abbasi said the government was bent upon repealing the 18th Amendment and imposing presidential system in Pakistan.

Asked if the opposition had started a movement against the government, he said the bid to remove Senate chairman was part of the opposition’s campaign against the government. “A bid to remove Senate chairman is our protest. We have started implementation of the decision taken by All Parties Conference,” he added.

He said the government machinery could not run without parliament.

Answering a question about the issuance of production orders for two jailed MNAs from Fata, Mr Bokhari said the prime minister should not dictate the Senate chairman or NA Speaker about it. He said it was solely their prerogative to issue production orders of detained legislators. “By dictating them, the prime minister is denying people the right of representation.”

Meanwhile, the opposition also decided to back a PPP candidate from Ghotki in the by-elections on the National Assembly seat.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2019