The appointment of JUI-F’s Abdul Ghafoor Haideri as the Senate opposition leader has triggered a new controversy, as the PML-N is not ready to follow the principle against which it clinched the slot of the opposition leader in the National Assembly. For the past two days, PML-N legislators and dissident senators of the PML-Q have been up in arms in the Senate against Haideri’s appointment that came under the principle of nominating a representative of the single largest party sitting on opposition benches. The JUI-F is also the third largest party in the Senate in numerical strength after the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPPP) and the PML-Q.
In a House of 100, the PPP is the major player with 27 members, while the PML-Q has 21 senators. Fazlur Rehman’s JUI-F is the third largest party with 13 senators, six elected on the MMA ticket, four on JUI-F ticket and three independent members elected from FATA who are backing the JUI-F. The PML-N has six senators and also has the backing of JAH chief Professor Sajid Mir. The MQM and the ANP have six senators and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has three senators. The BNP-Awami (BNP-A) has the support of three senators and NP two. There are five independent senators from FATA and another five from Balochistan, of which two back the PPP and one has sided with the BNP-A. The PPP-Sherpao, PKMAP, PML-Functional (PML-F) and JWP have one senator each. In the changing scenario, at least nine dissident senators from the PML-Q have already been allotted seats on opposition benches, which include four senators from the Likeminded group and five senators led by dissident leader Tariq Azeem.
However, Senator Mohammed Ali Durrani and SM Zafar are yet to declare their affiliations. This sets the tally of the treasury at 64 and the opposition at 36.
The treasury has the support of 27 PPP senators, 12 PML-Q senators, six each from the MQM and ANP, three from the BNP-A, one each from the PML-F and the JWP, five independents from FATA and three from Balochistan. The opposition consists of 13 JUI-F senators, three JI members, seven PML-N senators, nine PML-Q rebels (four likeminded and five rebels), two members from the NP, and one each from the PPP-S and PkMAP. The newly-appointed leader of the opposition, Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, deplored that the PML-N wanted to grab every lucrative post it could by hook or crook. “Initially, I was accorded support by 20 senators for the slot, but the PML-N approached Humayun Mandokhel, who had signed in support of my nomination, and made him change his mind. They even approached most JUI-F senators, but were snubbed. They even used negative tactics to garner support of Hafiz Rashid Ahmed, another JUI-F senator, but to no avail,” he told Pakistan Today. Calling the PML-N a truly friendly opposition, Haideri said the party was favouring the treasury benches by creating divisions in opposition’s ranks. He said the party was violating the very principles against which it grabbed the slot of NA opposition leader.
