Talks between the PML-N and Senate Chairman Farooq Naik on the controversial appointment of Abdul Ghafoor Haideri as opposition leader in the Senate remained inconclusive on Friday as Naik declined to suspend the notification, saying he could not pronounce a judgement before its hearing took place.
Naik had convened a meeting in his chamber to resolve the issue after the two parties stuck to their respective stances in the House.
Sources told Pakistan Today that the PML-N repeated its demand for suspension of the earlier notification, but Naik declined. A source in parliament said the discussion on the issue would start on Monday.
Raja Zafarul Haq, Ishaq Dar, Pervez Rasheed (PML-N), Haroon Akhtar and Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi (PML Likeminded) argued in support of Ishaq Dar while Azam Swati, Maulana Shirani, Maulana Gul Naseeb, Ghulam Ali and Talha Mehmood all from the JUI-F, advocated Haideri in the meeting. Leader of the House in the Senate Nayyar Bokhari also attended the meeting.
Earlier, the controversy over the appointment of leader of the opposition in the Senate continued vitiating the atmosphere of the House for the fifth consecutive day with both the PML-N and JUI-F blaming each other. Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq of the PML-N asked the Senate chairman to suspend notification of Haideri’s appointment, if he wanted to re-visit the decision.
Dar, the PML-N nominee for the office of leader of the opposition in the Senate said nobody would be allowed to blackmail in the name of national interest.
He lamented that tehsil council level politics had been introduced in the Senate where he alleged malafide decisions were taken and the process was sabotaged. He called for resolving the constitutional issue at the earliest.
Taking part in the debate on the budget, MQM Senator Col (r) Tahir Hussain Mashhadi said a reforms-oriented budget was the need of the hour.
He said the government had failed to meet targets set during the outgoing fiscal year, adding that relief should be provided to the under-privileged and deprived segments of the society.
He also noted that reduction in subsidy on various commodities would multiply the worries of the masses, adding that the target of four percent growth rate set for the next fiscal budget was not achievable.
