Shibli Faraz made Leader of House in Senate

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has named PTI Senator Shibli Faraz as the Leader of the House in the Senate.

The new session of the House will commence on Monday.

The legislature is poised for new alignments following the formation of PTI-led government. Keeping in view its strength, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has also moved the Senate Secretariat for naming Senator Raja Zafarul Haq as the Leader of Opposition in the House.

The incumbent Leader of Opposition Senator Sherry Rehman belongs to the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians.

Just before Eidul Azha, the PML-N moved an application to the Senate Chairman Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani for notifying Senator Raja Zafarul Haq as the opposition leader. A decision is hitherto awaited.

The PPP and other like-minded parties supported Sanjrani’s election as Chairman Senate. The PPP also got elected its own Senator Saleem Mandviwala as the deputy chairman.

A letter sent to the Senate Secretariat, through the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, states that Prime Minister Imran has appointed Senator Shibli Faraz to represent the government in the upper house of Parliament.

As per the Rule 2(1) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 2012, "the Leader of the House shall be the prime minister or a member appointed by him to represent the government and to regulate the government business in the Senate when the prime minister is not sitting in the House".

“Obviously, with the opposition commanding majority in the House, the task of new Leader of the House will be tricky,” parliamentary sources maintained.

Senator Shibli Faraz, a former banker, has been a member of the Senate since 2015. He was elected from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

His uncle Barrister Syed Masood Kausar has served as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor and his father late Ahmad Faraz was one of country's leading poets.

The PTI legislator has been serving as the chairman of committees on circular debt and commerce and textile.

In the new Senate session, PPP Senator Abdur Rehman Malik, Chairman Standing Committee on Interior, will present a report in the House of the committee on the holding of free, fair and transparent elections/security of general elections, 2018.

PPP Senator Mian Raza Rabbani will move for leave to introduce a bill to further amend the State Bank of Pakistan Act, 1956 [The State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2018].

PTI Senator Muhammad Azam Swati will seek to introduce a bill to prohibit ostentatious displays and wasteful expenses in marriages and ceremonies related thereto [The Marriage Functions (Prohibition of Ostentatious Displays and Wasteful Expenses) Bill, 2018].

He will also move for leave to introduce a bill to make provisions for protection of women from harassment at the workplace [The Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Bill, 2018].

Senator Shibli Faraz’s resolution is also part of the orders of the day of the private members day.

The resolution, if permitted to be moved in the House, states: “This House recommends that the government should take necessary steps for creation of analytical data base wing in all Ministries in order to facilitate policy making of the respective Ministry.”