Friction among opposition groups in Senate intensifies

ISLAMABAD: The friction between officially-recognized opposition and PML-N-led independent opposition in the Upper House of parliament further intensified on question of who would head the standing committees of Senate.

Former Prime Minister and leader of opposition in Senate Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani held an important meeting with leader of house, former federal minister Senator Waseem Shehzad and concluded an agreement about the ratio of committees to be headed by the members on two sides of the aisle.

Talking to The News, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) led-opposition in the Senate Azam Nazir Tarrar rejected the understanding between the “government sponsored opposition” and the PTI, saying the understanding is not acceptable to the independent opposition. The ‘official opposition’, Tarar said is interested in retaining more committees for its members which doesn’t commensurate with its strength in the house. Tarar was of the view that the opposition is entitled to the chairmanship of 22 committees. By that token the independent opposition should head 11 committees on the basis of its numerical strength in the house. Azam Nazir Tarrar maintained that the chairman Senate was authorized as per the tradition to notify the committees. He was also briefed by the independent group’s viewpoint on the issue.

The chairmen of the committees are entitled to avail perks and privileges of a federal minister and they are also provided with a chauffeur driven official car, staff, travelling allowance and other facilities. Azam Nazir Tarrar said that the independent opposition group in Senate had proposed a formula to the Senate chairman and official opposition leader for division of the standing committees.

Senator Azam Tarrar was invited by the chairman to sort out the issue through a meeting of leader of house and opposition. The Senator deputed Senator Musaddiaq Malik of the PML-N to represent him in the meeting. But the leader of the ‘official opposition’, objected to his presence at the meeting leading to a discord and the independent opposition opted to stay away from the deliberations and withdrew their offer of any working relationship with the leader of official opposition.

The sources said that the independent opposition group later had approached the Senate chairman with two sets of eleven committees each dedicated for the entire opposition. The official opposition will have the choice of picking up any set of committees. The sources said that the chairman in principle consented to the formula but needed to consult the government designated opposition leader before taking final decision, the sources said. The sources say the official leader of opposition in Senate belonging to the PPP was trying to capture maximum number of committee’s chair for his group but the independent opposition scuttled his move.

The sources pointed out that the Senate session will be convened soon after Ramadan and the dispute between two groups of opposition will hopefully be sorted out.