The opposition has submitted a resolution of no-confidence to remove the Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani. The resolution was moved on Tuesday to the secretary of the upper house, as part of the plan of the joint sitting of the opposition parties held earlier. The resolution demands the removal of the Chairman from his office under ‘Rule 21’ of the Rules of Procedure in Conduct of Business in the Senate. Along with the resolution, the opposition also submitted a requisition to call a session to move the resolution in the Senate.
Senate Secretary Muhammad Anwar commented on the situation that, “For the first time, a no-trust motion against a Senate chairman has been submitted. We will take the procedure further from here as per the law. Senate Secretariat is looking in the matter. The authority to convene the session on the requisition of the opposition rests with the Senate. The session is bound to be convened in 14 days”
Leaders from front line opposition parties including Sherry Rehman from PPP, Javed Abbasi and Raja Zafar-ul-Haq from PML-N and Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri from JUI-F led the action against the chairman. However, no representation from Jamaat-e-Islami was witnessed. An alternate name will also be suggested by the opposition by 11 July.
On the other side, Sadiq Sanjrani commented that the opposition has a right to move such resolution as it as allowed by the law, but he refused to leave the office upon his own will. “I have no reservations about the resolution being submitted, I am still here and doing my job.”, he said. The said action was mutually decided in the All Parties Conference hosted by the Chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam – Fazl (JUI-F) Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman on 26 June. The meeting also concluded to observe the election date of 2018 (i.e. 25 July) as ‘Black Day’ because of alleged rigging in the elections.