ISLAMABAD, Dec 2: The government has accorded formal approval to appointment of the People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani as leader of the opposition in the Upper House, in parliamentary sources told Dawn.

According to the sources, the appointment would be announced soon. The government announcement would formalize the informal role played so far by Senator Rabbani as leader of the Democratic Alliance in the Upper House and entitle him to official perks and privileges.

Senator Rabbani has been routinely consulted by the Chairman, Mohammedmian Soomro, and Deputy Chairman Commander (retired) Khalil-ur-Rehman in running the business of the house.

Though the PPP has gone an extra mile to downplay the approval accorded by President Gen Musharraf to officially elevate the status of Senator Rabbani, influential senators of the ruling party insisted it could not have been done without a nod of the president.

According to an influential ruling party senator, the appointment of Senator Rabbani as opposition leader in the Upper House would strengthen efforts aimed at forging national reconciliation and running the affairs of the Upper House in a more cordial and peaceful atmosphere.

The Senate has been functioning without a leader of the opposition for about two years. When Dawn contacted Senator Raza Rabbani and sought his comment on the issue, he said the Democratic Alliance had sent a written representation to the Senate chairman for appointment of a leader of the opposition in the Upper House almost a year ago.

He said the representation had signatures of 22 senators of the opposition parties in the Senate who had jointly nominated him as leader of the opposition. When asked how he viewed the government gesture, Senator Rabbani said he would not comment on this as he had no official information about the nomination so far.