KARACHI / ISLAMABAD: A delegation of Muttahida Qaumi Movement leaders on Thursday called on former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf before heading off to Raja House to meet Pakistan Muslim League-Functional chief Pir Pagara for senate election consultations as the Pakistan Peoples Party announced it would start interviewing senate candidates on Friday.

The MQM delegation led by Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui called on Gen Musharraf and then went to meet Pakistan Muslim League-Functional chief Pir Pagara and his brother Pir Sadruddin Shah Rashdi, chief of the PML-F’s Sindh chapter.

Take a look: Old faces regain power in top MQM body after yet another reshuffle

Kamran Tessori, the spokesman for the PML-F, was also present in the meeting.

Speaking to a group of journalists after the meeting, PML-F leader Pir Sadruddin Shah Rashdi said that the opposition parties could achieve better results in Sindh only after forming an alliance.

He said they had discussed different issues during the meeting, including coming senate elections, political situation in the province and governance.

Replying to a question, he said that the opposition was united and soon its positive results would be visible.

Answering another question, he said that their parliamentary party would be meeting on Feb 9 to finalise the decision to award ticket for the senate election and its strategy.

Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, who was accompanied by Dr Farooq Sattar, Barrister Dr Farogh Nasim, Kanwar Naveed Jamil and Haider Abbas Rizvi, in response to a question said that the purpose of their meeting with Pir Pagara was to make efforts so that opposition could play an effective role in the Sindh Assembly.

The situation prevailing in the province demanded that opposition parties work together, he added.

About their meeting with Gen Musharraf, he said Mr Musharraf had been head of the state and was a chief of a political party and the exchange of views with him was a routine matter.

The PPP will conduct interviews of its candidates for the senate elections in Bilawal House on Feb 6, 7 and 8, PPP sources told Dawn on Thursday.

Almost all retiring PPP senators belonging to Sindh have again applied for the upper house’s seats.

The PPP parliamentary board comprising Makhdoom Amin Fahim as its head and Raja Pervez Ashraf, Qaim Ali Shah and Faryal Taplur as members will conduct the interviews.

Speaking to Dawn, PPP spokesman Senator Farhatulllah Babar said interviews would be carried out on three consecutive dates. “Candidates from Sindh will meet the PPP parliamentary board on Feb 6 and 7 and those belonging to other provinces will appear before the board on Feb 8,” he said.

Responding to a question, the PPP spokesman said more than 100 candidates had applied for senate seats only from Sindh.

He said at present the PPP total strength in the senate was 41 and the party was expecting the total number of 28 senators after the elections to be held in March. “Even then the PPP will be the single largest party in the upper house,” he said.

It is expected that over 50 per cent (21 out of 41) senators of the main opposition party — the PPP — will be among total 52 senators of different parties to be retiring on March 11. Among the 21 retiring PPP senators, eight are from Sindh, five from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, three each from Punjab and Balochistan and two from Islamabad.

The PPP senators who are retiring in March are: Jahangir Badar, Kazim Khan and Sughra Imam from Punjab; Rehman Malik, Farooq Naek, Salim Mandviwala, Islamuddin Sheikh, Maula Bakhsh Chandio, Abdul Qayyum Soomro, Gul Mohammed Lot and Almas Perveen from Sindh; Gulzar Ahmed Khan, Waqar Ahmed Khan, Sardar Ali Khan, Adnan Khan and Farhat Abbas from KP; Sabir Baloch, Mir Yousuf Badini and Surriya Amiruddin from Balochistan and Nayyar Bokhari and Dr Saeeda Iqbal from the federal capital.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2015

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