Despite having lost the position of the single largest opposition party in the Upper House of parliament after the March 2 Senate elections, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) is in no mood to surrender the slot of the leader of the opposition and would again vigorously contest for the same against the now single largest opposition party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
According to sources in the parliament, independent senators would play a major role in recognition of leader of the opposition in the House. They said the Fazl-led party had started consultations on the issue within party ranks and with its “allies”. The party would build its arguments around the senate chairman’s ruling on the subject in which he had stated: “I, therefore, hold that an independent member, elected either from FATA or Settled Areas/Province, who has decided to be part of the opposition, for the time being, has a right to express his choice or propose a person for the position of leader of the opposition and Chairman Senate has to form his opinion keeping into view the right so exercised by the independent member.”
According to the party position in the House, the treasury comprises PPP (41 seats), PML-Q (5 seats), MQM (7 seats), ANP (12 seats), BNP-A (4 seats) and PML-F (1 seat), making a total of 70.
At this juncture, the government is not dependent on the independent senators to show its majority in the House. On the other hand, the opposition parties are the PML-N (14 seats), JUI-F (7 seats) and NP (1 seat).
There are 12 independent members in the House. The sources said that per the JUI-F plan, a majority of the independent senators, (12) particularly from FATA who used to be part of the government, would join the opposition benches for the time being and express their support for Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri for the opposition leader’s slot along with seven JUI-F senators, making a total of 19 votes. On the other hand, PML-N candidate Ishaq Dar would be enjoying the support of only 14 PML-N members and one senator from the National Party. Once the issue of the opposition leader is settled, these independent members may join the government.
The chairman in his ruling had held that: “I am of the opinion that an independent member, whether he has been elected from FATA or settled area/province, is free to join treasury benches or opposition benches at any time. He cannot be restrained from siding either with treasury or opposition benches or making any alliance or becoming part of the government or opposition at any time.”
The opposition leader’s slot had been a major source of tussle between the JUI-F and PML-N. The chairman senate had ruled in favour of Maulana Haideri of the JUI-F against Ishaq Dar of the PML-N, which the latter had called a ‘politically motivated’ decision.
On May 2, 2011 Pakistan Muslim League-Q, which was a party in opposition to the government, joined the coalition government headed by the PPP and the development led to a controversy over the slot.
The chairman in his ruling had stated that: “Keeping in view the above discussion, I will thus have to analyse as to who are the members for the time being in opposition to the government in the Senate and how many are supporting either Senator Mohammed Ishaq Dar or Senator Abdul Ghafoor Haideri for the position of leader of the opposition in the Senate.”
At that time, according to the chairman, Dar had the support of 15 members that included seven members from the PML-N, three members from the Jamaat-e-Islami, two members from the National Party, one member from PkMAP, one member from PPP-S and an independent member from Balochistan.
Senator Haideri had the support of 19 members, including 10 of the JUI-F, two independent members from FATA. Besides, five independent members from FATA – Senator Abbas Khan Afridi, Senator Muhammad Idrees Khan Safi, Senator Haji Khan Afridi and Senator Rashid Ahmed Khan and Senator Hafiz Rashid Ahmed – as well as two independent members from Balochistan, Mir Wali Muhammad Badini and Nawabzada Muhammad Akbar Magsi, had signed the proposals to support Haideri. Meanwhile, cracks have started developing in the ruling coalition over the issue of the nomination of Senate deputy chairman. Two allied parties, the ANP and BNP-Awami, have reportedly started pressurising the government to get the
coveted slot.
