ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Saidal Nasir Khan were elected Senate chairman and deputy chairman on Tuesday amid protests by the erstwhile Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), now Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC). They were elected unopposed since no candidate put in their papers against them.
The inaugural session of the house was summoned by President Asif Zardari to elect a chairman and deputy chairman as well as for the newly-elected members to take oath.
Imran Khan’s Sunni Ittehad Council members created chaos on the floor of the house as 41 senators took oath and denounced the election of the chairman and his deputy as “unconstitutional” because the house was “incomplete”.
Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) Senator Ishaq Dar was the presiding officer for the election while SIC members shouted and screamed, demanding that the house be adjournment till senators from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) were elected.
Speaking on the floor of the house, SIC leader Senator Ali Zafar blamed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for “this anomaly” and demanded the Senate election be deferred as Article 59 of the Constitution required 96 members to be present in the house for the election of its chairman, whereas the process would be unconstitutional till the house is complete.
‘It’s the law’: Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said in response to the objections that Article 60 of the Constitution dealt with election of the Senate chairman and deputy chairman and instead of complaining, the SIC should know that it had shot itself in the foot with the postponement of Senate polls in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
He said the KP government had failed it’s supporters etc by not abiding by the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) orders directing it to ensure oath to MPAs elected on reserved seats in the province.
“Had it been a case of force majeure, where the senate polls weren’t held [in KP] due to any natural disaster, this House would’ve decided whether to wait for them [senators elected from the province] or not,” Tarar added.
“The House is complete for Constitutional purposes,” he concluded, blaming the PTI for creating obstacles in the election of senators from KP after which polls were postponed by the ECP.
Following the Law Minister Tarar’s explanation, Ishaq Dar ruled, “In the light of explanation given by the worthy law minister, with reference to the provisions of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the objection is overruled.”
