Buyers, those on sale want to impose minority Senate chairman: Rana Sana

LAHORE: Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah on Wednesday said Imran Khan’s stance had always been that the fish stunk from the head and that every bit of corruption by subordinates was a result of a corrupt head, therefore, according to his own logic, the PTI chairman’s corrupt personality led to the sale of his party’s MPAs and MNAs in the Senate elections.

Talking to media outside the Punjab Assembly, he said Imran’s hypocrisy and dichotomy were his trademarks and he, just like any other scenario, had very conveniently exonerated himself and his party from the massive corruption done by the PTI in the Senate elections.

The law minister said the buyers and those ready to sell themselves were busy trying to impose a minority Senate chairman and deputy chairman on the people of Pakistan. “This appalling practice will be visible to the people of Pakistan and these corrupt practices will have their impact on the voting behaviour of the people in 2018 general elections,” Rana Sana noted.

He said the narrative of Nawaz Sharif had hit the nerve of the people and resonated in every house of every street. “The speeches in Senate were the echo of the same narrative, which show how powerful and apt this narrative is.”

He said the PML-N wanted to contest the upcoming elections on the basis of performance, on the resolution of the energy crisis, on the fruits of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) but the progressive politics was swept aside to undermine the PML-N because of the fear.

Talking about the PML-N stance on Raza Rabbani, he said it would have been relatively difficult for the party to oppose his chairmanship, had he been nominated, purely because of his stature and past performance.

“His integrity, democratic values and patriotism are undisputed which is why such a candidate is unviable for the PPP,” he added. Rana Sana said even in the past three years, Rabbani faced criticism and repeated disownment by his own party over his principled stance.

Responding to a question regarding the probable role of establishment in the manoeuvring the Senate chairman election, the provincial minister said Zardari set out to wipe out some ‘powers’ not very long ago, which he then very conveniently forgot and ran away from that aggressive threat, but was annihilating democracy through his money play after re-emerging on the political scene. “It raises a lot of questions.”

Talking about the apparent tacit coordination between PPP and PTI, he said it was a mindboggling preposition as how two enemies who had cursed each other in public and swore to never ever unite but were currently colluding with each other. “The forces behind stimuli for such collusion are a question that every Pakistani is asking,” said Rana Sana.

Commenting on the future of the hyper judicial activism, he said he started his career as a lawyer and had tremendous respect for judiciary and judges. However, everyone be it a member of the Bar or the Bench was saddened by the court’s attitude in the Nehal Hashmi case which, with due regards, appeared vindictive rather than procedural because the court had pardoned someone as rotten as Babar Awan who had been proven guilty of selling judges to his clients in Dubai for Rs 350 million.