ISLAMABAD, Feb 14: Opposition senators from the newly-formed Democratic Alliance, in a meeting here before the start of the Senate session on Friday, criticized the government for "violating the constitution and not following the set parliamentary traditions," sources told Dawn.
The sources said the members had decided to meet the Senate chairman Mohammedmian Soomro to highlight the delay in the naming of an opposition leader and also in forming the standing committees in the upper house.
In the meeting, presided over by PPP parliamentary leader Mian Raza Rabbani, the members expressed the fear that the chairman might not appoint opposition members as chairmen of the committees as mandated under the rules.
The members also reviewed the agenda and business of the current Senate session and vowed to highlight the nuclear scientists' issue with full force.
The members regretted that the government had not brought the nuclear scandal on the agenda by itself, manifesting its reluctance to discuss the issue in parliament, and instead placed the speech of the president for general debate by a joint sitting of parliament.
They said under the parliamentary tradition, debate on the president's address to the joint session was always initiated by opposition leaders in the two houses of parliament.
"It will be interesting to see who will initiate the debate on the president's address," said a PPP senator while talking to Dawn. He said it seemed the government was afraid of the opposition and it was because of this fear that it was constantly violating the constitution.
The sources said the opposition members also regretted that the government had not conducted a draw to retire half the members of the upper house after three years. They said it was a tradition that after oath-taking ceremony a draw was held in the house to select those members who would be asked to retire after three years while the others would complete a six-year term.
They said the Senate was about to complete one year but no such draw had been conducted. They termed this act another violation of the parliamentary traditions.