LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz has said that the Leader of the Opposition in Senate would be from her party, as a formula had already been decided by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leadership.
Addressing a press conference in Lahore with Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Sunday, Maryam said the PDM had not decided that the decision regarding the opposition leader would be subject to change if the other candidates from the opposition lost the election for the other Senate slots.
She said all member parties had agreed that they would vote for PPP’s Gilani for the Senate chairman poll and JUI-F’s Abdul Ghafoor Haideri for the deputy chairman election, while the opposition leader would be from the PML-N.
Maryam added that “A principled resolution has been taken and hoped that according to the rule and agreement, all parties will stand by this decision.” Rehman was in agreement with her stance along with other parties of the opposition alliance, the PML-N leader said.
Maryam said if anybody was under the impression that any suppleness could be bent in the decision then “they can be convinced too that a principled decision has already been taken so there is no require to reopen it”.
In his remarks, Pakistan Democratic Movement chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal will enter a dialogue with the opposition parties and the alliance will wait for the outcome of the PPP’s Central Executive Committee meeting.
Fazlur Rehman said “PDM is not only united, through mutual discussions we have matters under control. The alliance that has a particular ideology will appeal to the PPP to respect their viewpoint,” he added.
He said that the PDM will wait for the result of the PPP’s Central Executive Committee meeting set to take place in the first week of April and is also willing to review their suggestions so that the alliance can move forward successfully.
The PDM chief said that during Maryam Nawaz’s hearing on March 26 with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the opposition alliance will be present with her in a show of solidarity.
Fazlur Rehman said that when she appears before NAB on Friday, all of the PDM’s activists and leaders will be right there with her. He claimed that the activists will number “not thousands, but hundreds of thousands in the occasion.”
After the success of former Prime Minister and PPP senior leader Yousaf Raza Gilani in securing his Senate seat from the federal capital, it was agreed that he would be made Chairman and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) Senator Abdul Ghafoor Haidri would be made deputy and leader of the opposition would be from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
Maryam Nawaz’s remarks come days after the PPP formally lodged its protest with the PML-N leadership at the highest level over the latter’s decision to nominate Azam Nazeer Tarar for the office of opposition leader in the Senate.
Although, in the given situations PML-N leaders have said that it will not step back from the opposition leader’s slot even though PPP has more senators in the opposition. The 10 parties among PDM in so many words have conveyed to the PDM leadership that according to the fixed formula the leader of the opposition slot will remain with PML-N.
