Senate to thoroughly discuss allegations of ‘unprecedented’ vote rigging today

ISLAMABAD: The allegations of “unprecedented” rigging in the recent general elections echoed in the upper house of the Parliament before, it decided, on Monday, to thoroughly take up the matter in its session scheduled today (Tuesday).

On the maiden day of the outgoing Senate’s farewell session, the senators from different political parties protested against the alleged poll rigging.

These lawmakers sought to be given the floor to share their views over what they described was the unprecedented rigging in Pakistan’s history in the recent general elections.

However, Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani assured the senators that they would be given adequate time to share their views on the matter in its session on Tuesday, to which, majority of the house members agreed.

Earlier, taking the floor, Kamran Murtaza from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazal (JUI-F) said, the massive rigging in general elections violated the public mandate. “First, we violated the Constitution by delaying the general elections—then we violated the public mandate in these elections,” he deplored.

The JUI-F senator said the general election results attracted strong backlash in the three provinces. “Balochistan is practically shut down—and there are serious problems in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh as well,” he lamented.

All this, he said, is being done to “benefit one province,” in an implied yet obvious reference to Punjab.

The JUI-F senator said he moved a calling attention notice on poll rigging, which, he said, should have been taken up in Senate’s Monday session. “This is the most important issue. This should have been in the house’s business agenda for today,” the lawmaker opined.

Saadia Abbasi from Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) demanded that the house discuss unprecedented increase in the gas tariff. The previous government increased the gas prices by 200 percent which have again been increased by 67 percent, she said.

Sanjrani told the N-League senator to move the related motion to be taken up in the ongoing farewell session for discussion.

PTI’s Dost Muhammad Khan said the military operation destroyed the Waziristan region. He said, the federal government, in the past, announced financial assistance of 400,000 rupees for every house destroyed in the military operation in Waziristan. “Half of the people got that financial assistance. The remaining people are yet to get it,” he said.

Khan demanded of the chairman Senate to write to the prime minister for the release of required funds for Waziristan. “We already wrote a letter, we’ll write another one,” Sanjrani replied.

Meanwhile, the Senate passed three private bills; the International Islamic University (Amendment) Bill 2023 and Pharmacy (Amendment) Bill 2023, both moved by Mushtaq Ahmed Khan from Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), and Falcon University of Sciences and Technology Bill 2024, moved by independent Senator Dilawar Khan, and Manzoor Kakar from Balochistan Awami Party (BAP).

Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill 2023, moved by the JI senator, that sought public hanging of “rapists,” was rejected by the house.

The house passed a resolution, moved by independent Senator Abdul Qadir, demanding that all universities of Pakistan should revise their MPhil and PhD programmes and “align them with the requirements of the modern times which are truly based on research, critical thinking, scientific approach and practical application of Quranic knowledge.”

The house was adjourned till Tuesday.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024