54 new senators take oath today
Asim Yasin
ISLAMABAD: With 50 senators retiring on Sunday, 54 newly-elected senators will take oath today (Monday) to start their three-year term in the Upper House of parliament.
Following the oath of the new senators, the Senate will also elect its new chairman and deputy chairman for their three-year terms.The ruling coalition has nominated Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari for the post of Chairman Senate and Sabir Baloch as Deputy Chairman in the Upper House of parliament.
President Asif Ali Zardari has nominated Afrasiab Khattak to conduct the elections of Chairman Senate and to take oath from the newly elected chairman as well as other senators. The election of Chairman Senate is set to be followed by the election of Deputy Chairman Senate.
The ruling coalition has a numerical strength of 83 senators in a house comprising 104 members, with a major chunk belonging to the PPP (41 senators), the ANP (12 senators), the PML-Q (7 senators), the MQM (7 senators), the BNP (4 senators) and Fata (8 senators). The opposition benches, meanwhile, feature the PML-N (with a strength of 14 senators) and the JUI-F (7 senators).
It is expected that the ruling coalition will easily manage to get its candidates elected for the slots of chairman and deputy chairman respectively.
The opposition has yet to nominate a candidate for either of these posts. There are indications that both the candidates for the chairman Senate and deputy chairman Senate will be elected unopposed.
The 50 senators who retired on Sunday will avail all the perks and benefits promised to them and more, including medical facilities, blue passports as well as benefits.
With the retirement of the 50 senators, all the present standing committees of the Senate will expire, and following the election of a new chairman, these committees will be reconstituted.
With the start of a new three-year term of the Senate, Opposition leader in the Senate Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri has also lost his slot, and the opposition is due to elect a new opposition leader.
Being a majority party on the opposition benches, the PML-N has nominated Ishaq Dar for the post of opposition leader and it is expected that new Chairman Senate, after assuming office, will nominate Ishaq Dar as well.
Crucially, the most important parliamentary committee, i.e. Parliamentary Committee on National Security also currently stands dysfunctional as its seven senators retired today, including its chairman Mian Raza Rabbani.
Though Mian Raza Rabbani, Ishaq Dar, Dr Babar Awan and Israrullah Zehri have returned to the Senate, Speaker National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza will have to re-notify their membership in the committee.
According to sources, the PML-Q is set to nominate Mushahid Hussain Sayed in place of Wasim Sajjad who also retired from the Senate on Sunday. According to sources, Mushahid Hussain Sayed, who headed the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee from 2003-2009, also aspires for the position of chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security.
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