Imran’s hullabaloo on Senate polls uncalled for: Khursheed

ISLAMABAD: Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah on Friday said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief was making unnecessary hue and cry on the Senate chairman’s election.
In a statement, the opposition leader said the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) will win the election for the Senate chairman. He asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to support the PPP candidate.
Felicitating the newly-elected members of the Senate, he hoped that they will do their best for democracy, people and parliament.
He said that Senate’s role in the country’s politics is very important as it represents the provinces and the country. He said issuance of an ordinance to block the Senate election from Fata was not a politically viable move and had the government not taken this step, the Senate elections would have been completed by now. “This step of the government is not within the legal and political sphere and, therefore, it should be set aside at the earliest,” he added.
Khursheed Shah said the PPP was a truly democratic party and it will always take measures to block the undemocratic moves taken by any party or group in the country.
He said the government should neither come from the backdoor nor it should manoeuvre in the dark of the night as this was against the norms of democracy and justice. He said their efforts aimed at creating a conducive political atmosphere in the country were being shattered by unwise and biased moves like issuance of an ordinance on election of senators from Fata. He said the ruling party should review such tendencies so that democracy could be strengthened as per the aspirations of the people of the country.
Meanwhile, the PPP initiated a consultation process with its allied parties for bringing consensus candidates for the posts of chairman and deputy chairman Senate.When contacted, vice president PPP Parliamentarians Sherry Rehman said, “We will field a consensus candidate for the Senate chairmanship with the ANP, JUI-F, PML-Q, MQM, BNP-A, Fata lawmakers and others.”
It is expected that the PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari will hold the meetings with Asfandyar Wali Khan, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Sanaullah Zehri and also make telephonic contact with Altaf Hussain and Dr Ghazi Gulab Jamal of Fata.Sources said a joint meeting of the PPP and its allied parties was expected to be held by Tuesday.