PPP Secretary General Nayyar Bukhari has again voiced reservations about PML-N’s Ishaq Dar being the leader of the house in the Senate, questioning why caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar did not pick an independent senator for the role.
This is not the first time the PPP has levelled allegations against the PML-N for having a hidden alliance with current caretaker government. Earlier this month, Bukhari had raised fingers at Dar for holding his position in the Senate. “With which status, Ishaq Dar is holding the office of leader of the house in Senate. In Senate, leader of the house represents the prime minister,” Bukhari had said in a statement.
Moreover, state-run APP reported on Monday that caretaker Information Minister Murtaza Solangi had informed the Senate that the premier had endorsed Dar as leader of the house and Senator Saleem Mandviwalla as chief whip. According to the report, the information minister said that the two would continue to perform their responsibilities as per parliamentary traditions.
But PPP’s Bukhari again voiced reservations about Dar being the leader of the house in the Senate in an interview with a private news channel. Responding to a question about whether he thought the premier was involved in ministerial appointments, Bukhari instead asked who had been appointed the leader of the house in the Senate.
“The rules say the leader of the house in the Senate is the prime minister’s nominee. Previously, he (Dar) was Shehbaz Sharif’s nominee. When he (Shehbaz) no longer remained the prime minister, then someone else had to assume the office.
“Then why did Kakar sahib make an important PML-N member the leader of the house?” Bukhari asked.
Bukhari said that as a caretaker prime minister, Kakar was supposed to be neutral and independent, and should have picked an independent senator for the role.
Asked whether the PPP could challenge the situation, Bukhari said elections were around the corner and the party preferred if the Election Commission of Pakistan took cognisance of the matter.
“We can only pinpoint that these two, the caretakers and the PML-N, are in cahoots,” he said.
