Rabbani wins against Shashi Tharoor for IPU Executive Committee slot

By Asim Yasin
October 14, 2019

ISLAMABAD: In a major breakthrough in Belgrade, Pakistan’s candidate Mian Raza Rabbani clinched a sensational win against India’s stalwart Shashi Tharoor as the two parliamentary giants from South Asia faced each other for the prestigious Executive Committee slot of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), according to official announcement.

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The IPU is holding its 141st General Assembly in the Serbian Capital, which opened Sunday with the meeting of the 34 Member Asia Pacific Group of the Union to decide about its joint nominee for the Executive Committee. According to announcement, Pakistan’s Parliament had pitched former Senate Chairman and seasoned politician Mian Raza Rabbani for the coveted slot and his candidature was being vigorously pursued by the Pakistan’s Parliamentary delegation, led by the Speaker of the National Assembly Asad Qaiser.

Speaker Qaiser is also the Chairman of the Asia Pacific Group for the current year. As the meeting opened, in a surprising move, Indian delegation led by the Speaker of Lok Sabha Om Berla, forwarded the candidature of noted writer Congress (I) stalwart and presently member of the Lok Sabha, Shashi Tharoor, making it a straight fight.

In a further attempt to gain time for further canvassing, the Indian delegation also demanded a deferment of the vote by the group and instead attempted to refer the matter to the main General Assembly. This was smartly thwarted by Pakistan, which sought the Chairman of the Group’s ruling to follow the tradition of Asia Pacific fraternity of deciding the matters internally.

The appeal was forcefully seconded by China, Canada and the Philippines. The Canadian delegate drew the House’s attention to the previous case when a similar situation was tackled earlier through voting within the Group.

The Indian delegation desperately tried to delay the election till the last day of the IPU’s General Assembly, which concludes on the 17th of this month but failed to get any support from the countries present in the Session. Consequently, finding no buyers of India’s point of view and sensing an immanent defeat in the ballot, the Indian candidate sheepishly withdrew his candidature.

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