ISLAMABAD - Pakistan People’s Party’s Senator Sherry Rehman is set to take the leader of the opposition slot in Senate after 33 members supported her candidature.
Senator Rehman was nominated by PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for the post against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s candidate Azam Swati. The PTI nominee, however, could not get a decisive support in the 104-member House.
Rehman submitted her nomination to Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani. Her nomination was supported by 33 senators of opposition parties including members from the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas, independents from Balochistan, the Awami National Party and the Balochistan National Party-Mengal.
PPP leader Faisal Kundi tweeted: “The #PPP just submitted a majority list of 33 signatures by #Senators who support @sherryrehman as Leader of the Opposition to the Chairman Senate. You need 27 for a clear majority. Thanks to all the parties who supported.”
Senator Rehman said she had a challenging act to “follow after the brilliant Aitzaz Ahsan and appreciate the confidence reposed in me by my party leadership and colleagues in opposition”.
Senator Rehman, who is also PPP’s vice-president, also received a book – Federal Laws of Pakistan – as a gift from former Senate chairman Mian Raza Rabbani. “(Raza Rabbani is) always a source of wisdom and insight,” she commented.
She said: “Thank you to all the parties and senators who supported our opposition leadership in the Senate. We just demonstrated a clear majority of our signed numbers to the Senate Chairman. You need 27 in an opposition bench of 54. We declared 33”.
Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Khurshid Shah said the PPP had shown its majority in the opposition and deserved the opposition leader’s slot. He said the PPP wanted unity among the opposition ranks and will continue to work for a stronger democracy.
Meanwhile, PPP Secretary General Syed Nayyar Hussain Bokhari warned the government against the “loot” sale of the Pakistan International Airlines, the Pakistan Steel Mills and other national assets.
In a statement, Bokhari said that (prime minister’s) adviser on economy Muftah Ismail’s announcement regarding the sale of the PIA and the Steel Mills will never be allowed to materialize by the PPP and the nation.
He said that the country was in an economic mess because of wrong policies of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government.
“National reserves are on the decline and the loans taken by Nawaz Sharif are resulting in a burden on the economy,” he said.
Bokhari said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif wanted to dole out all national assets to his ‘front men’ but people will thwart every such move.
Meanwhile, PPP Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Finance Secretary Farzand Ali Khan Wazir called on Bilawal Bhutto and apprised him of the party’s reorganization process in the province.
SHAFQAT ALI