ISLAMABAD: Dashing the opposition’s hopes that Senate Chairman Mohammad Sadiq Sanjrani will resign before facing a no-confidence motion against him, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Friday launched a counteroffensive by filing a no-trust motion against Deputy Chairman of the Senate Saleem Mandviwalla

The motion came two days after a similar move by the opposition seeking to remove Mr Sanjrani followed by PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s advice that the Senate chairman should voluntarily resign as he had lost confidence of the house.

The opposition has nominated National Party chief Mir Hasil Bizenjo as its joint candidate for the prestigious parliamentary position.

The no-trust motion against Mr Mandviwalla, signed by senators of the PTI, its allies and some independent members, was submitted by Leader of the House in the Senate Syed Shibli Faraz, who was accompanied by Barrister Saif of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Sarfaraz Bugti of the Balochistan Awami Party and senators from erstwhile Fata, including Sajid Turi.

Party leader says he is in touch with some opposition members who are not happy with similar move against Sanjrani

Informed sources told Dawn that earlier Mr Faraz held a meeting with senators from the tribal areas.

An interesting situation has evolved after the unprecedented development as the rules are silent on who is to preside the Senate session with no-trust motions on agenda against both the chairman and the deputy chairman.

Rule 12(5) of the rules of procedure and conduct of business in the Senate reads, “The Chairman or, as the case may be, the Deputy Chairman shall not preside over a sitting of the Senate in which a resolution for his removal from office is fixed for consideration.”

Mr Faraz told Dawn that the Senate secretariat would write a letter to President Arif Alvi, who will then nominate somebody from among the members of the house to chair the session.

He expressed the confidence that Mr Sanjrani would retain his position and Mr Mandviwalla would lose his office.

He said though the rules provided for removal of the Senate chairman through a no-trust motion, this option had never been exercised in the parliamentary history of Pakistan.

He said the opposition’s move, which had “violated the concept of continuity”, was prompted by political expediency and was a bid to force the government to “soften accountability of the corrupt”. Otherwise, he said, Mr Sanjrani was running the house impartially and all members from both sides of the aisle were happy and satisfied with him.

Answering a question, Mr Faraz said he was in touch with some members of the opposition who were “not happy with the leadership’s decision” to bring a no-trust motion against the chairman. “Since the voting on the resolution of the no-confidence motion takes place by secret ballot, members will vote according to their conscience,” he remarked.

Mr Faraz recalled that in March 2015, he had been fielded as a candidate for the office of Senate deputy chairman at the eleventh hour, when the PTI just had five senators. However, he had secured 19 votes.

He said the ‘unwise’ decision of the opposition had forced the treasury members to move a

no-trust motion against Mr Mandviwalla, who had obtained 34 votes of senators of the PTI and its allies when he was elected.

Reacting to the no-trust motion against him, the deputy chairman of the Senate said that some senators told him that they had been ‘told to sign” the motion. He said what was being done was not good for the house.

Mr Mandviwalla said that he would happily step down if the members of the Senate thought that he should not remain in office.

PPP parliamentary leader in the house Senator Sherry Rehman said that the ruling party had moved a no-confidence motion against the deputy chairman just to massage its ego, knowing that they were far short of numbers required to get the motion passed.

She said that the government had no option as the opposition parties would not succumb to any pressure.

She said the government wanted the opposition to withdraw the motion against the Senate chairman, which would not be done.

She expressed the confidence that the no-trust motion against the deputy chairman of the Senate would be comfortably defeated by the opposition.

Senator Sassui Palijo of the PPP also expressed similar sentiments. She said that a no-confidence motion against Mr Mandviwalla would be defeated with a majority vote and the government’s tactic to pressurise the opposition would not work. “The PPP has the guts to wage a constitutional and democratic war,” she remarked.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2019