The opposition parties’ Rehbar Committee on Friday decided to remove Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani from his position, and a resolution will be submitted in Senate on July 9 in this regard.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Akram Khan Durrani, who was presiding over the meeting, said the name of the opposition’s candidate for the top slot of the Upper House will be decided in the next session on July 11. Durrani said he has been unanimously named as the first head of the committee, adding that a convener of the Rehbar Committee will be nominated from each party for a period of two months. The position will rotate among all member parties, he said.
Durrani also announced that the opposition will observe July 25, the anniversary of the 2018 general election, as a ‘black day’. All parties have been asked to have their members resign from the parliamentary committee set up to probe election rigging, he added.
Resolution in this regard will be submitted in Upper House on July 9
Durrani announced support of the opposition parties for the Pakistan People’s Party candidate in Ghotki by-election. He demanded issuance of production orders for two arrested MNA who were elected from the erstwhile FATA.
Commenting the situation, Durrani said that price hike and unemployment rate has increased after the general elections. He said a new ‘political order’ is being framed in the country, and that the opposition has expressed grave concern over the situation. He claimed that the state institutions are crossing their jurisdiction and interfering in other matters. “We condemn any such order. We also reject the posting of soldiers inside polling stations in [erstwhile] FATA. We condemn the arrest of Rana Sanaullah and demand the production orders of two members of the National Assembly from erstwhile FATA,” he added.
To a question about what the ‘new political order’ is, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi of the PML-N responded saying they are referring to rumours about imposition of presidential system in the country.
Name of opposition’s candidate for the slot will be decided on July 11
When a reporter pointed out that the prime minister has publicly opposed the issuance of production orders to under investigation lawmakers, Nayyar Bukhari of the PPP said, “The prime minister has no right to issue or stop production orders. By doing so, he is denying people the right of representation.”
The 11-member Rehbar Committee also took an oath of confidentiality and formulated a policy to run the anti-government movement. The participants were not permitted to carry their mobile phone in the meeting room.
Former Senate chairman Nayyar Bukhari and Farhatullah Babar represented the PPP, while former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal represented the PML-N at the meeting. Akram Khan Durrani from the JUI-F; Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo from the National Party, Usman Khan Kakar from the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Hashim Babar from Qaumi Watan Party, Mian Ifthikhar from the Awami National Party, Shafiq Pasrori and Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan’s Owais Noorani attended the meeting.
