ISLAMABAD: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) general secretary Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri has rejected the government’s offer of Senate deputy chairmanship on Tuesday.
The JUI-F leader in a statement said that no such discussion regarding the Senate deputy chairmanship had taken place in the meeting earlier, in which members of all political parties were present.
He said Pervez Khattak talked in front of the media after the meeting. He condemns in the strongest words such as a talk by the minister in front of the media. Haideri said that an offer by a government, which the opposition does not recognize, was meaningless.
Talking about the PDM, of which JUI-F is a member, he said that the party was bound by any decision that the alliance takes. “PDM is entirely united and in consensus, he stressed. “The ruling party is using delaying tactics to save its sinking ship,” Haideri claimed.
Earlier after a meeting today talking to media alongside Haideri and Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, Khattak said “we have invited JUI-F to come and be the deputy Senate chairman.” “It will be beneficial for him and everyone,” Khattak added.
Haideri said and condemned in the strongest words Defence Minister Pervez Khattak’s statement in front of the media without discussing it in a meeting beforehand. He said that he had come to meet the Senate chairman which was something he does as a matter of routine.
Earlier, PM Imran had named Sanjrani as the government’s candidate for the Senate chairman’s office while on Monday, the PDM named PPP’s Yousuf Raza Gilani as the opposition’s joint candidate.
Meanwhile, an opposition committee met on Tuesday to decide on the names of the alliance’s candidates for the Senate deputy chairman’s slot as well as the leader of the opposition in the upper house of parliament.
According to PDM information secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain, it was decided that the candidate for Senate deputy chairman would be from JUI-F while the leader of the opposition would be from the PML-N.
Shortly afterward, spokesperson for JUI-F, Aslam Ghauri, confirmed that Maulana Haideri would contest the election for the deputy chairman’s office as a joint candidate of the opposition.
The Upper House of Pakistan’s parliament will elect a new chairman on March 12, a day after the outgoing lot retires and on the day newly-elected members are take oaths.
The race is promising to be a hotly contested one between the PTI government alliance’s nominee Sadiq Sanjrani, the incumbent compete for a second term — and Yousaf Raza Gillani — the former prime minister who has been pitched by the opposition.
All eyes are on the poll, particularly after the Opposition, in a shock move, managed to secure enough votes on March 03 Senate elections to elect Yousaf Raza Gillani to a general seat from the lower house, which is dominated by the government coalition partners.
