ISLAMABAD – PPP Senator Khatu Mal Jeewan is going to resign from the Senate to block the way of Michael Javed to the National Assembly, who is next to Jeewan on the PPP’s priority list for MNAs submitted with the ECP in 2008.
The move will also secure the senate seat for a close aide of President Asif Ali Zardari.
According to the records of the ECP, after the killing of minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti, Jeewan should have been notified as the MNA on the minorities’ reserved seat, but he already holds a seat in the Senate. Under the situation, Javed was on the top of the list to be considered as senator which was not acceptable for the PPP leadership.
As there was no other way to block Javed’s way to the National Assembly, the government has asked Jeewan, who belongs to Scheduled Hindu Caste, to resign from Senate and secure a seat in the National Assembly in order to deny the same to Javed. A credible source in the PPP told Pakistan Today that the Senate seat vacated by Jeewan would be filled by a close aide of President Zardari, however, the source did not disclose the name of Zardari’s friend.
The source said since Jeewan Mal was also nominated by the PPP in 2008 general election as a waiting candidate for reserved seat for minorities in the National Assembly, but he became a Senator in 2009. Now after Bhatti’s assassination, the PPP has decided to take back the Senate seat from Jeewan before the completion of his tenure, the source added.
Meanwhile, a senior ECP official said Senator Jeewan had asked ECP to notify his name for the NA minorities seat in a written statement. The ECP directed him to first tender his resignation from the Senate, so that he could be notified for the NA seat.
Bhatti’s killing initiates technical manoeuvring on PPP’s part
