ISLAMABAD: Faced with the ire of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) against the backdrop of Senator Azam Swati’s alleged video controversy, Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani has refused to step down amid the reports that the PTI is all set to bring a no-confidence motion against the Senate chief.
Recently, the chairman Senate was conveyed by the opposition stalwarts led by Leader of the Opposition in Senate Dr Shahzad Waseem that the opposition lawmakers had serious reservations over the role of Sanjrani in Swati’s alleged video controversy and lack of any action on his part when Swati was arrested and allegedly tortured by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) last month.
Reportedly, Sanjrani has conveyed to the opposition lawmakers that he would not quit, and face the no-confidence motion.
In 100-seat Senate, the present strength of which is 99, the PTI-led opposition has 33 seats, whereas, the treasury benches led by Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) have 66 seats, just one short of two-thirds majority of 67 seats.
Under the relevant laws, a simple majority or 51 votes are required against the Senate chief for the no-confidence motion to succeed. The voting is held through a secret ballot.
Sanjrani earlier survived the no-confidence motion in August 2019 during his first stint as the chairman Senate. The then joint opposition in Senate led by PML-N moved the no-confidence motion against him. Sanjrani was supported by the then treasury benches led by the PTI.
In the then Senate that had 104 seats, 53 were required to attain a simple majority to oust Sanjrani. Despite that the opposition had 64 votes in the Senate, only 50 votes went against Sanjrani, 45 in his favour and five votes were rejected.
Since last month, Sanjrani is under sharp criticism over events concerning Swati. Earlier this month, Swati alleged that his wife was sent an objectionable video from an unknown number that featured her with her husband.
According to the PTI senator, the video was recorded during his visit to a judicial residential facility in Quetta in August this year. His particular visit and stay in Quetta was facilitated by the Senate chief, Swati alleged.
The PTI senator’s disclosure sent shockwaves across Pakistan’s political spectrum with many politicians, regardless of their political affiliations, openly siding with the PTI senator to express solidarity.
After remaining under fire from different political and public circles, Sanjrani finally formed a 14-member committee comprising senators from all the political parties having representation in Senate as well as an independent senator to investigate the matter and furnish a report in 30 days.
However, the joint opposition rejected this move and demanded Swati’s immediate resignation.
Before this episode, Sanjrani drew strong criticism from the opposition lawmakers for not issuing the production order of Swati who was arrested by the FIA’s Cybercrime Wing last month for his “defamatory” tweet about army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
Swati was later released on bail by a district and sessions court. After his release, the PTI leader alleged that he was subjected to extreme humiliation during his detention including having been stripped naked and severely tortured by the officials of a premier intelligence agency at the behest of two senior military men. The PTI senator and Chairman PTI Imran Khan have repeatedly named these two officials in their pressers and public addresses, demanding action against them.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022