Senate meets today

ISLAMABAD: The Senate will meet for its first formal (regular) session today (April 5) with majority of the opposition parties appearing in no mood to accept the notified leader of the opposition, escalating the war of words between the PPP and PML-N with each passing day.

The House will meet after the election of new senators on March 03, the chairman Senate and deputy chairman on March 12 and notification of leader of opposition Yusuf Raza Gilani on March 26.

Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani was elected for a second three-year term on March 12, defeating Gilani in the election. Similarly, the slot of the deputy chairman Senate was pocketed by the ruling coalition candidate Mirza Muhammad Afridi.

It will be interesting to see how the opposition parties conduct themselves during the course of proceedings. Needless to say, the division in their ranks will be an advantage to the government benches.

Though, the opposition still enjoys a clear majority over the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led treasury benches, it is sharply divided after the PPP got notified Gilani as the opposition leader, with the support of the ruling coalition partner, Balochistan Awami Party. As a consequence to this development, the PDM has already started the process to expel the Pakistan People’s Party and Awami National Party for violating its consensus decision and getting support of the ruling alliance for the election of their candidate as the opposition leader.

Five opposition parties in the Senate have also decided to form an independent group in the House, comprising 27 members. These parties are PML-N, JUI-F, PkMAP, the National Party and BNP (Mengal) and obviously the group is to be headed by PML-N designated opposition leader Senator Azam Nazir Tarrar. The Senate Secretariat will be informed formally in this regard shortly. The Senate Secretariat has issued the orders of the day for the first sitting. The House will begin its session at 10:00am.

PTI’s newly-elected Sentor Fawzia Arshad will move the Bill to provide for the safety and standards of food and for establishment of the Islamabad Food Authority [The Islamabad Capital Territory Food Safety Bill, 2020], as passed by the National Assembly, to be taken into consideration and passed. Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar will move the Bill to amend the Public Private Partnership Authority Act, 2017 [The Public Private Partnership Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2021], as passed by the National Assembly, to be taken into consideration and passed.

Likewise, Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Hammd Azhar will move the Bill to make provisions for the establishment of Pakistan single window [The Pakistan Single Window Bill, 2021], as reported by the Standing Committee, to be taken into consideration and passed.