Elections of Senate standing committees held

ISLAMABAD: The elections of the chairmen and chairpersons of various standing committees of the Senate were held on Tuesday at the Parliament House, as the difference of opinion between the treasury and the opposition benches has delayed the process.

The Senate elections were held in early March this year but the House standing committees are facing delays, mainly due to differences with regard to who should be the chairperson or chairman and from which party. Differences between the government and the opposition are quite natural but among the opposition parties is not a common phenomenon, which prompted two leading opposition parties i.e. PPP and PML-N to field their own candidates for the slot of leader of opposition. Ultimately, PPP’s Yousaf Raza Gilani was notified as opposition leader. But PML-N declined to accept him as such and sought a separate status for the opposition parties group-led by it in the House.

Coming back to the elections which made Senator Talha Mahmood as the chairman of the Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs, which was previously headed by PPP Senator Farooq H Naek. Former deputy chairman Senate PPP Senator Saleem Mandviwalla has been elected as the chairman of the Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, PTI Senators Mohsin Aziz and Zeeshan Khanzada have been elected as the chairman of the Standing Committee on Interior and as the chairman of the Standing Committee on Commerce respectively.

Balochistan Awami Party Senator Prince Ahmed Omer Ahmedzai has been elected as the chairman of the Standing Committee on Communications, Senator Rubina Khalid of PPP has been elected as the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Maritime Affairs, Senator Muhammad Tahir Bizinjo of the National Party got elected as chairman of the Standing Committee on Rules of Procedures and Privileges and independent Senator Hidayat Ullah has been elected as the chairman of the Standing Committee on Aviation, under Rule 184 (1) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate 2012.

Secretary Senate Muhammad Qasim Samad Khan along with other high officials conducted the elections. The newly-elected chairpersons of the committees thanked the members of the committee for showing their confidence in them.