Opposition Senators protest naming of Haidri as leader of opposition: Senate proceedings witness pandemonium

Proceedings of the Upper House on Monday witnessed pandemonium as opposition Senators strongly protested over naming Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) as leader of the opposition.
Senator belonging to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), PML-Q's dissidents and Pakhtunkhwa Mili Awami Party (PaKMAP) got up and started shouting "no, no," when chairman Farooq H Naek gave the floor to the newly notified leader of the opposition Haidri to open debate on the budget proposals.
The protesting Senators also demanded of the chairman to withdraw the notification, which they dubbed as being issued on the behest of the government. The House was echoed with slogans as "no to fake leader of the opposition," "shame, shame," "no to government 'representative'" and "withdraw the 'fake' notification." While some Senators including JUI-F's Maulana Gul Naseeb Khan and PML-N's Ishaq Dar and PPP's Sabir Baloch and PML-Q's dissident Javed Ali Shah also exchanged harsh words.
Haidri, however, continued discussion on the budget proposal amidst strong protest of rest of the opposition members, saying that owing to the current inflation rate 15 percent raise in salary was inappropriate. He hailed Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) but added that it should be ascertained whether poor across the country were benefited alike.
The leader of the opposition flayed the government for non-allocation of budget for 15 devolved ministries saying that the provinces needed financial resources to run these departments but they were ignored in the finance bill. However, he lauded the government for taking the power shortage as a serious problem of the masses and allocation of Rs 115 billion for water and power sector in the budget.
Haidri suggested for continuing subsidy in agriculture sector adding that it was backbone of the economy and majority of the population is directly or indirectly related with it. He further said that special attention should be given to agriculture sector in unprivileged areas. Later speaking on points of order opposition Senators flayed the notification and demanded of the chair to withdraw it.
However, Farooq H Naek, while responding to the concerns of the protesting Senators, invited them to his office to be briefed on the rules under, which the notification of Haidri has been made. He said that the notification was issued under the set rules and nothing was kept secret.
PML-N Raja Zafarul Haq, while speaking on the point of order, termed Hairdi's nomination against the merit and justice. He demanded of the chair to withdraw the notification adding that the notification does not reflect the impartial attitude of the chair. JI's Professor Khurshid Ahmad said 24 out 36 Senators in writing informed the office of the Chairman that Senator Ishaq Dar would be the leader of opposition, but, he deplored the decision terming it against the merits.
PakMAP's Abdul Raheem Mandokhel seconded the viewpoints of Raja Zafar-ul-Haq and terming the notification as tantamount to election rigging. PML-N's Syed Zafar Ali Shah was of the view that the notification was its unique nature of the parliamentary history of the entire sub-continent saying that majority of the members were supporting Ishaq Dar as leader of the opposition while "the notification is saying something else."
JUI-F's Maulana Gul Naseeb termed the notification as being based on merits and also deplored the protest of the Senators. He called for co-ordinated approach between the opposition in National Assembly and Senate to keep strict check on the government. Meanwhile, ANP's Senators staged walk out from the House against the behaviour of the PPP Sindh chapter against the ANP.