ISLAMABAD Mar 12: The combined opposition charged on Wednesday that the government had used state machinery to gain support in elections to the Senate.

The opposition accusation came at a news conference called before election of the chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate on Wednesday.

Mohammedmian Soomro and Commander Khalilur Rahman of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q were elected unopposed chairman and deputy chairman, respectively, after the seven-parties combined opposition pulled out of the process.

The opposition alleged that 54 senators were herded together on Tuesday evening at a dinner by the country’s premier intelligence to give them instructions how and for whom to vote for chairman and deputy chairman.

Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Javed Hashmi told newsmen that the combined opposition had decided to requisition the session of Senate after they had filed a requisition for the National Assembly session in the day.

They justified taking of oath by their senators for, if they had skipped it, it would have been presumed that they had accepted the LFO as part of the Constitution.

After his election as chairman, Mohammedmian Soomro expressed the hope that members of the Senate would concentrate on the issues of their respective areas, particularly the problems of poverty, backwardness.

Congratulating the new chairman and deputy chairman, Wasim Sajjad assured them of full cooperation of the house in performance of their duties.

Almost all the treasury members in the Senate criticized the extremist attitude of the opposition and for keeping itself aloof from the democratic process.

Veteran parliamentarian Anwar Bhinder said all amendments should be brought to the house for assent.

S. M. Zafar, parliamentary leader of the PML-Q in the Senate, said that the parliamentarians were duty bound to ensure the supremacy of Parliament which was envisioned by Quaid-i-Azam and to which Prime Minister Jamali was also committed. He said the opposition should express itself instead of withdrawing from the proceedings.

Among other senators who spoke were Dr Khalid Ranjha, Mohee Khan, Aneesa Zeb Tahirkheli, Kamil Agha, Tariq Azeem, Tanvir Khalid, Saeed Siddiqi, Zafar Iqbal, Nisar A. Memon, Dilawar Abbas, Hafeez Sheikh, Dr Waseem Shehzad, Naeem Chattha and others.

ASSUME CHARGE: Mr Mohammadmian Soomro assumed charge of the office of the Senate Chairman and Mr Khalil-ur-Rehman that of the Deputy Chairman on Wednesday under article 60(1) of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, according to separate notifications issued by the Senate Secretariat, adds APP.