ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and nominee for the opposition leader slot in Senate Azam Swati on Saturday stated that his party was forming an ‘independent opposition bloc’ rivalling the one led by PPP Senator Sherry Rehman in the Upper House.
“We are in contact with MQM-P, Jamaat-i-Islami and independent senators from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to form an ‘independent’ opposition bloc,” Swati told a private TV channel. He said that the party has drafted a strategy to counter PPP. He, however, did not explain how this alliance will function inside the Upper House.
PTI did not support Sherry Rehman for Senate opposition leader’s office, arguing that it will damage the reputation of the party. Both parties had voted for Sadiq Sanjrani, an independent candidate from Balochistan, to beat Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Raja Zafarul Haq for the Senate chairman slot.
Swati said the PTI would raise its voice against the ‘rampant corruption’ in PPP-governed Sindh, and claimed that PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Zardari and disqualified premier Nawaz Sharif were ‘equally responsible for the ruin of the country’. He said he planned to visit Karachi along with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak in the coming days.
Sherry Rehman is the first woman opposition leader in the 45-year history of the Senate. She replaced her party colleague Aitzaz Ahsan, who retired after completion of his six-year term as senator on March 11.
Rehman received support from 33 opposition senators to clinch the position. Besides 21 members of her own party, one senator each of the Awami National Party and the Balochistan National Party-Mengal, six independents from FATA and four independents from Balochistan were among her supporters.
Swati could get the support of only 19 senators – 12 from his own PTI, five of the MQM and two of the JI.
Published in Daily Times, March 25th 2018.
