Chaudhrys decline to back PDM in race for Senate chairmanship

Ag Agencies

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: A day after the Prime Minister secured a vote of confidence from the National Assembly, the opposition leadership held separate high-level meetings, one among themselves, while another with a major coalition government ally to shore up support for the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) candidate as Senate chairman, which was ultimately fruitless.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership met in Islamabad on Sunday and decided on fielding Miftah Ismail as a candidate for the NA-249 constituency of Karachi after PTI’s Faisal Vawda resigned, Maryam Nawaz announced following the meeting.

The meeting was also attended by Khurram Dastgir, Marriyum Aurangzeb and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif via video link, according to the party’s Twitter account. She also said the PDM meeting, which will be held today, will finalise its candidate for the Senate chairman. She warned the government would have to “pay a high price” for the “assault” on her party’s leadership by PTI workers a day earlier.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, meanwhile, met with Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader Hamza Shahbaz in Lahore, with whom an in-house change in Punjab was discussed, Geo News reported. Afterwards Bilawal called on the Chaudhrys of Gujrat, coalition government allies of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

In the meeting, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Perwaiz Elahi declined to support Yousuf Raza Gilani in the election for Senate chairman, Geo News reported, quoting sources. Shujaat was quoted as expressing his respect for Bilawal for visiting him, but explained that PML-Q are allies of the government and they had already pledged their support for Sanjrani and that they would stand with the government in the Senate. PML-Q’s Tariq Bashir Cheema confirmed his party’s stance in a chat with Geo News programme Naya Pakistan.

Videos tweeted by the PPP showed Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi escorting Bilawal inside. According to state media, Bilawal inquired about the health of PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat and discussed the political situation with the Chaudhry brothers.

Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, PML-Q leaders Tariq Bashir Cheema, Moonis Elahi, Salik Hussain, Hussain Elahi from the PML-Q and PPP Punjab President Qamar Zaman Kaira and another party activist Jamil Soomro were also present.

Earlier in the day, Bilawal and Hamza spoke to the media after they met one-on-one, where he claimed MNAs did not willingly vote to make Imran Khan the Premier, and similarly they did not back him of their own accord in the confidence vote. “Imran Khan’s vote of confidence is a joke. Yes, he ran the race alone and said ‘I won’, but it was rigged too,” Bilawal said. “Allegations of an opposition member that there were not as many people in the Assembly as the number of votes cast should be investigated.”

When he spoke, Hamza Shahbaz said the PDM’s goals “are not just long march” but “to fix what has befallen this country in three years”. The issue is not only Punjab. Corruption against Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and other opposition leaders could not be proved. The two leaders also met one-on-one, and discussed in-house changes in Punjab and strategies against the government, including bringing Gilani as chairman Senate, Geo News reported.