A large number of senators on Tuesday rejected Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri's recognition as leader of opposition in the Senate, calling for immediate withdrawal of the notification. Ishaq Dar, a PML-N senator, who was a candidate for that slot, staged walkout along with Jamat-e-Islami and PML (Like Minded) senators when senate chairman Farooq H Naik paid no heed to his call.
The protesting senators were of the view that nine members were unfairly being denied of their right to vote for the slot of opposition leader, which was lying vacant after Waseem Sajjad - a PML-Q senator quit after his party joined PPP-led coalition government last month.
Senator Haroon Akhter Khan of PML-Q (Like Minded) said that it is the right of every member to vote according to his or her own conscience. He said that the party head might disciple the member, but he could manipulate his/her right to vote to any party. Senator Naeem Hussain Chattha endorsed his fellow senator's views saying that casting vote to opposition leader was their constitutional right.
Senator SM Zafar, a PML-Q senator and close friend of Chaudhry cousins contended that the party [PML-Q] had joined the government and its members could not cast for opposition leader. He said if a member, who is curious to vote for leader of opposition must quit the party first or defection clause will be applied in case of violation of party discipline.
Senators Hafiz Rashid, Azam Khan Swati and Ghulam Ali welcomed the election of Maulana Ghafoor Haidri stood up in support of Haidri and termed it a conspiracy to destabilise democracy by PML-N. Meanwhile, opening the debate on Finance Bill 2011-12, Senator Ahmad Ali called for collecting taxes in a transparent manner besides ensuring reform in this sector without any discrimination. He said anomaly in tax collection system must be removed and everyone should be brought into tax net.
Earlier, Senator Raza Rabbani called for a separate debate regarding request of some dissident senators, belonging to PML-Q, who want to sit on opposition benches in Senate after PML-Q headed by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain joined the coalition government.
He said it must be reviewed whether there was any difference between individual member and group of individual members. Their rights as well as responsibilities must also be defined in both categories [affiliation with treasury and opposition benches]. Senate Chairman Farooq H Naek assured him that time would be allocated for a discussion on the issue in a few days. The House was adjourned till Wednesday.