Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani has finally summoned an all important session of the Upper House of the Parliament, which is expected to decide about his fate, on July 23, the last date to summon the upcoming session in accordance with constitutional provisions after the opposition moved a related requisition. Constitutionally, the chairman Senate is bound to summon a session of the Senate if one-fourth of the total number of senators submits a requisition for convening the session, within 14 days of the submission of the said resolution.
According to a notification number 'F 4(6)/2019-Legis' issued by Secretary Senate Muhammad Anwar on Saturday, "In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (3) of Article 54, read with Article 61 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the chairman Senate has been pleased to summon the Senate to meet in the Parliament building, Islamabad, on Tuesday, the 23rd July, 2019, at 3:00pm."
On July 9, in an unprecedented move in Pakistan's legislative history, the opposition senators, except from Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), submitted a no-confidence resolution for the removal of the chairman Senate. The same day, the opposition also submitted a requisition to have the related Senate session convened to consider the motion.
Given that the no-confidence resolution was submitted on July 9, the relevant Senate session needed to be convened latest by July 23 (within fourteen of the submission of the related requisition). The Article 54 (3) reads, "On a requisition signed by not less than one-fourth of the total membership of the National Assembly, the Speaker shall summon the National Assembly to meet, at such time and place as he thinks fit, within fourteen days of the receipt of the requisition; and when the Speaker has summoned the Assembly only he may prorogue it."
Article 61 reads, "The provisions of clauses (2) to (7) of Article 53, clauses (2) and (3) of Article 54 and Article 55 shall apply to the Senate as they apply to the National Assembly and, in their application to the Senate, shall have effect as if references therein to the National Assembly, Speaker and Deputy Speaker were references, respectively, to the Senate, Chairman and Deputy Chairman."
On July 12, the treasury benches submitted a no-confidence resolution against Deputy Chairman Senate Saleem Mandviwalla. A source in the Senate Secretariat said that the voting on no-confidence motion against chairman Senate and deputy chairman Senate would be held separately. "Both are separate offices, therefore, the respective no-confidence motions have to be treated separately. The voting on both motions cannot be held simultaneously. The voting on no-confidence motion against chairman Senate would be held first given that the opposition had first moved the no-confidence motion against the chairman. This would follow voting on no-confidence motion against deputy chairman," the source said.
The chairman Senate on Tuesday approved to officially notify that joint opposition has moved a no-confidence motion against him, following which all the senators and Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs have been formally intimated about the motion.
"Chairman Senate has approved to circulate the notice of 'Motion for Removal of Chairman Senate' in terms of Rule 12 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 2012. Accordingly, Senate Secretariat has circulated the notice among all the members as well as has written to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs for further necessary action at their end," a statement from the Senate Secretariat confirmed on Tuesday last.
The Rule 12 (1) reads, "Removal of Chairman or Deputy Chairman-(1) Not less than one-fourth of the total membership of the House may give to the Secretary notice in writing of a motion for leave to move a resolution-for the removal from office of the Chairman or the Deputy Chairman and the Secretary shall forthwith circulate the notice to the members."
Discussions with well-placed sources in opposition suggest that after moving the no-confidence motion, the opposition was expecting that the chairman Senate would step down to avoid no-confidence motion considering that more than 60 senators in 104-member Upper House belong to opposition. The opposition, according to sources, was also anticipating that the chairman Senate's resignation would pressurize Prime Minister Imran Khan's government to soften its otherwise tough stance against the top leaders of key opposition parties.
However, the opposition's strategy does not appear to have worked. The chairman Senate has refused to step down and has decided to face the no-confidence motion. Over the last few days, the chairman Senate has held meetings with top government figures, including Prime Minister Imran Khan who has assured him of his party's full support in foiling the no-confidence motion.
On the other hand, the opposition leaders have also huddled together frequently in a bid to map out a decisive strategy against Sanjrani. However, a low-key meeting between Leader of the House in Senate Raja Zafar-ul-Haq and chairman Senate, earlier on Wednesday last, fuelled speculations that the joint opposition was set to withdraw the no-confidence motion against Sanjrani.
The actual agenda of the said meeting remains a mystery as both Sanjrani and Haq were reluctant to share details of the meeting that took place at the Parliament House. Insiders in former ruling party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) believe that the meeting between Zafar-ul-Haq, who is also Chairman PML-N, and Sadiq Sanjrani, implies that the PML-N has softened its policy towards Sanjrani in a bid to mend ways with the state institutions amidst problems piling up for the former ruling party, especially in the aftermath of accountability judge's videos leak controversy.
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