Govt senators try to bury hatchet with PTI

Opposition regrets ‘political victimisation’ still under way

ISLAMABAD:

In a bid to restore much-needed political stability in the country, senators from the treasury benches made efforts on Friday to mend ties with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the opposition party across the aisle.

Meanwhile, lawmakers from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) employed conciliatory language during the upper house’s session in an attempt to win over the opposition. However, the PTI remained steadfast in its stance, accusing the ruling alliance of subjecting it to victimization.

The Senate session began under the chairmanship of Yousuf Raza Gilani and a copy of President Asif Ali Zardari’s address to the joint sitting of parliament on April 18 was tabled in the House by Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, who also holds the portfolio of the parliamentary affairs ministry.

On Tarar’s motion, a debate on Zardari’s address to the joint sitting was kicked off.

Speaking in the House, PPP Senator Sherry Rehman said President Zardari in his address had invited all parliamentary parties to work together.

“The president had said that we could turn a new page of history by uniting for the national cause,” she added.

“Do we need to start our new parliamentary year with conflicts and bitterness? Is that what we want?”

Sherry said the PPP had always made sacrifices but never considered itself above the country and its pride.

She noted that there had never been any political prisoner during the PPP’s tenure.

The PPP senator maintained that her party had never resorted to political victimisation and always extended a hand of friendship and harmony.

Real: Asif denies pressure on Imran

She said that instead of taking up the old statements issued by PTI founding chairman and former premier Imran Khan, politicians would have to “genuinely” opt for a new start and must respect each other if they wished to turn a new page.

Sherry told the lawmakers on the opposition benches that they now had the opportunity to change their tone and attitude.

She pointed out that stability in a country could never be secured by provoking the youth and running social media campaigns against state interests.

On the allegations of rigging in the February general polls, the PPP senator responded that which elections in the country had been conducted in a correct manner.

Sherry also welcomed Leader of the Opposition in Senate Shibli Faraz back to the House.

Similarly, PML-N Senator Irfan Siddiqui, the party’s parliamentary leader in the House, claimed that his party did not believe in political vendetta.

He added that he was strongly against handcuffing political leaders.

“I feel sorry when [PTI Vice President] Shah Mahmood Qureshi is brought to the court with handcuffs. These old traditions should come to an end,” he continued.

He asked the PTI to engage in a process of dialogue with his party to address the crises faced by the country.

He noted that if the PTI could nominate Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai as its presidential candidate and talk to JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman – both parties its traditional political rivals – then why could it not sit with the government for the sake of the country.

Siddiqui conceded that many lawmakers were elected on the name of the country’s “national hero” Imran, he pointed out both his party and the PTI had different views on a host of issues.

He claimed that presently there was no political prisoner in the country, clarifying that such inmates were ones jailed for their party affiliation.

The PML-N senator highlighted that while separate political parties existed in the country, the “biggest party was Pakistan”.

He asked the opposition senators to set aside politics and shake hands for the sake of the “biggest party” Pakistan.

Siddiqui too extended his felicitations to PTI’s Faraz for returning to the House.

However, PTI Senator Ali Zafar regretted that his party was still being subjected to political victimisation.

He congratulated Gilani for assuming the office of the Senate chairman and expressed his “trust and confidence” in him that he would run the House in a “fair manner”.

He said the Senate was based on equal representation of the country. However, he regretted that senators from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were absent from the session as they had not been elected yet because polls for the upper house in the province were suspended for reserved MPAs not being administered their oath.

Zafar maintained that his party was subjected to “exemplary injustice” and the “limits of revenge were crossed” against Imran and his wife Bushra Bibi.

Read: Fate of detained May 9 PTI activists still uncertain

He added that the trials against them were conducted in jail and sentences were handed out within 15 days of the proceedings.

Addressing Sherry, the PTI senator said the biggest duty was that her party should also have the ability and patience to tolerate “harsh” criticism based on “reality”.

“We will speak to you with responsibility but we will also criticise you,” he added.

PML-N Senator Khalil Tahir Sindhu, elected on a reserved seat for minorities, stressed the need for solving Pakistan’s problems within the country, adding that the enemy was waiting for an opportunity.

He highlighted the important role of religious minorities in making Pakistan.

“We have to set our priorities and unite on national issues,” he added.

Sindhu noted that the PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and former PPP chairperson Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had paved the way for members of the religious minorities to become senators through the 18th Constitutional Amendment – something that they had been kept deprived of in the past.

(With input from APP)