Altaf asks party lawmakers to vote for Raza Rabbani

KARACHI: While welcoming the decision of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif regarding the consensus candidate of the opposition for chairmanship of the Senate, Altaf Hussain, chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement has asked his party members to cast vote in favour of Raza Rabbani, a joint candidate.
According to a statement issued here, Altaf Hussain authorised the MQM’s coordination committee and the one appointed by it to engage in negotiation with other parties to have a thorough evaluation of the Senate elections.
Meanwhile, in an interesting development a day earlier, the delegations of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) met MQM leadership to discuss the nominations for the slots of chairman and deputy chairman Senate.
Later, the opposition parties had nominated Senator Raza Rabbani for the post of Senate chairman and proposed that the deputy chairman be nominated from the Balochistan province.
Surprisingly, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has also backed the nomination of Senator Raza Rabbani for the chairman of the upper house.Terming an unconditional support of the prime minister for the Chairmanship slot of Senate, Altaf said it’s a wise decision taken by the government and it would promote congenial atmosphere in the two houses. “It is a decision which proved political maturity and it would have its impact in the future democracy of the country.