Balochistan independent Sadiq Sanjrani emerges top contender Senate chairman: Rise of Balochistan!

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Balochistan independent Sadiq Sanjrani emerges as top contender for Senate chairman

APP | Inamullah KhattakUpdated March 11, 2018
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Balochistan independent senator-elect Sadiq Sanjrani has emerged as a top contender for the post of Senate chairman, with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), PPP, MQM-P and Balochistan senators reportedly reaching consensus on his nomination for the March 12 election, DawnNewsTV reported.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto on Sunday announced support for Sadiq Sanjrani and further said that the party would field Saleem Mandviwalla for the deputy chairman seat.

The PTI had earlier on Friday announced that it would vote for neither the PPP nor the PML-N's nominees during the election for Senate chairman. A day later, however, the PTI announced that it would vote for the panel announced by Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo in connection with the election for the Senate's top posts.

On Sunday, the party announced its support for Sanjrani, already backed by CM Bizenjo, as its pick for the post. The PTI will also be backing the PPP's nominee for deputy chairman Senate, who will be a part of Bizenjo's panel, as per an agreement with the Balochistan CM.

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Sanjrani, an independent senator from Balochistan, is considered close to the PPP leadership and is backed by the ruling party in Sindh ─ in exchange for his support to the PPP's proposed deputy chairman, Saleem Mandviwalla ─ and by four out of five MQM-P senators, who have also extended their support to the PPP's nominee for deputy chairman, according to well-placed sources.

PTI's inclination towards PPP's candidate emerged after a meeting between Balochistan CM Bizenjo and PTI Chairman Imran Khan at the latter's Bani Gala residence on Sunday. Bizenjo was accompanied by a delegation of independent senators-elect from the province.

During the meeting, Khan announced his support for any candidate the PPP puts up for the post of deputy chairman as per an agreement with Bizenjo.

"As per our promise to the Balochistan CM, we will support the PPP's candidate for deputy chairman of the Senate," Khan assured a delegation of the senators-elect from Balochistan.

Imran Khan told the media in a visit to Faisalabad on Sunday that during the meeting with Bizenjo, he had been asked to support the Balochistan CM's panel, which included a deputy chairman nominated by the PPP. Both sides had already agreed on supporting senator-elect Sanjrani for the post of chairman of the Upper House.

The PTI chief added that he had agreed to support Bizenjo's panel as "mitigating a sense of deprivation among the citizens of Balochistan is essential".

"Extraordinary steps are needed to remove the sense of deprivation among the people of Balochistan," he said. "Countering the corrupt and selfish Sharif family is mandatory to safeguard the reputation of the parliament and democracy," he claimed, explaining his reasons behind the decision.

According to the sources, the PML-N has been having a tough time rallying support for its picks for the posts of chairman and deputy chairman Senate.

The PML-N's leadership had asked Hasil Bizenjo of the National Party to take the lead for them in the race for Senate chairman and garner support from other senators in the province, but the independents gave him the cold shoulder, the sources told DawnNewsTV.

Hasil Bizenjo was subsequently advised by the newly elected Balochistan chief minister to stay away from the tussle brewing between the independents and the ruling party, the sources said.

Senate agenda for Monday
The Senate is scheduled to meet on Monday to elect its chairman and deputy chairman.

According to the agenda issued by Senate Secretariat for Monday, the session will start at 10am. The newly elected senators will take oath after which the session will be adjourned.

After the adjournment of the session, nomination papers for the chairman and deputy chairman will be submitted.

The session will resume at 4pm to elect the chairman and deputy chairman of the Upper House.

Names of the candidates will be announced during the meeting and later a secret ballot will be held.

The names of winning candidates will be announced after which they will also take the oath.

With additional reporting by Fahad Chaudhry in Islamabad.

 

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Imran extends PTI's support to get Senate chairman elected from Balochistan

Dawn.comUpdated March 08, 2018
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Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday announced that PTI's 13 senators will support the Balochistan chief minister as he thinks the next Senate chairman should belong to Balochistan.

During his visit to Quetta to meet Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo, the PTI chief said, "Everyone should try their utmost that a N-League candidate is not appointed as the Senate chairman."

Earlier, while speaking to media persons in Peshawar, Khan had said that at this point there was one thing his party was sure of, "that they do not want a Senate chairman from PML-N".

"We are afraid that if the Senate chairman is from the PML-N, they may enact laws to safeguard the Sharif family from the charges of corruption they face," he explained.

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He added: "On the other hand, we also cannot work with a party like the PPP, so we are trying to come up with a strategy where a Senate chairman can be brought in [without the PPP's help] — ideally from Balochistan. It is a smaller province and a chairman [from there] will help [their cause]. That is what we are working towards, but the party will meet tomorrow to come up with a concrete strategy."

Commenting on Maulana Fazlur Rehman's meetings with the heads of both PML-N and PPP, Imran Khan said, "The book Alice in the Wonderland has a saying which explains this [strategy] perfectly: 'When you don't know where you want to go, it does not matter which road you take'."

He added: "Since he does not have an ideology of his own, he [Fazl] can join anyone."

Speaking about horsetrading allegations against members from his party, he said: "I have also seen the lists of members [who allegedly sold their votes] that are circulating on social media; however, we cannot remove someone from the party based on rumours since the voting itself was secret. If we do that, the members can turn around and approach the court saying that they have been removed from the party without proof."

"We cannot prove our case in court based on allegations made on social media. These people have purposefully set up such a system which enables such acts. We want the system to be changed so that it is transparent," Khan said.

"We kept saying that the Senate electoral system should be reformed; however, the two major parties of the country did not agree to it since they have their own vested interest in keeping the old system going," the PTI chairman added.

Horsetrading allegations and ECP notices
After the results of the Senate elections were announced, various politicians had expressed extreme scepticism over political parties grabbing seats in the Senate despite lack of significant representation in the provincial assemblies.

“Senate elections yet again witnessed shameful horse-trading where MPAs bought and sold their votes as the country witnessed this sale of their ‘elected’ people to highest bidder. This shows moral decline of our political class. In which Western democracy does such a sale happen?” Imran Khan had tweeted at the time.

“The horse-trading in the Senate elections allowed the PPP to win two seats in KP where they have only seven MPAs. This sort of electoral farce raises some serious ethical questions,” Khan had tweeted. He said the Senate elections had not only “devalued the Senate but the entire political class”.

On Tuesday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued Khan, among other parliamentary leaders, notices for levelling horse-trading allegations.

The leaders have been asked to appear before the body on March 14 and submit proof of their allegations.

 

[Manidabest]

the fact is that the power base in Pakistan is moving from east to west ..... KPK and Balochistan will have more powers from Punjab and Sindh but i personally believe that now power in Pakistan in getting balanced among all the units of federation and a new equal power sharing formula needs to b formulate and will b done soon inshallah

 

[Kabira]

He doesn't have votes, its all just drama. Nationalist parties in Balochistan will never vote for establishment backed candidate, they will vote for N league candidate in few hours.

Being senate chairman hardly matter when Baluch have been PM, president, chief justice. Maybe only important position left is COAS. This drama by PTI/PPP and establishment will not work.

 

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Opposition candidate Sadiq Sanjrani sworn in as new Senate chairman

Dawn.com | Fahad Chaudhry | Nadir GuramaniUpdated March 12, 2018
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Senator Krishna Kohli poses with Senator Sherry Rehman, Anwar Lal Deen and others. — Photo courtesy Sherry Rehman's Twitter account

Balochistan independent Senator Sadiq Sanjrani has been elected as Senate Chairman as he bagged 57 votes out of the total 103, DawnNewsTV reported.

The election of Sanjrani marks a historic development as he has become first ever Senate chairman from Balochistan.

Sadiq Sanjrani: a little-known politician from Chagai

The PML-N, which appeared to be floundering without the backing of other major players in politics, held meetings with allies today to finalise their nominees for the top posts after Sanjrani emerged as the joint opposition's top contender for chairman Senate on Sunday.

During a meeting at PML-N leader Raheel Muneer's residence in Islamabad earlier today, the ruling party and its allies decided on Raja Zafarul Haq as their pick for chairman and Kakar for deputy chairman, according to Senator Mushahidullah, who also appeared optimistic that the PML-N bloc had the numbers to get both its candidates elected.

In addition to the PkMAP, the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), National Party, Awami National Party (ANP) and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) have all thrown their weight behind the PML-N backed candidates.

ANP Senator Sitara Ayaz said its sole vote would go to the ruling coalition's candidates as the PPP had refused to field Raza Rabbani as its candidate for the slot of chairman.

51 new senators take oath
Earlier in the day, 51 newly elected senators took oath in a ceremony held in Islamabad. Presiding Officer Yaqoob Nasar administered the oath for the senators elected via polls held on March 3. Senators were then invited to sign the member rolls.

Newly elected senators take oath on Monday. — DawnNewsTV


Only Finance Minister Ishaq Dar did not take the oath as he is undergoing medical treatment in London and his election as a senator is being contested in the apex court.

Speaking to the media, outgoing chairman Raza Rabbani dispelled the impression of disagreements within the PPP and said that he stands with his party.

He was answering a question regarding his reaction to PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari's comments casting doubts over the three-year stint of the party stalwart as the house's custodian and him siding with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. "Everyone has a right to their opinion," Rabbani said.



PPP Senator Krishna Kohli, the first Thari Hindu woman to be elected to the house, arrived along with her family in traditional Thari attire. She expressed her desire to work on healthcare and water-related issues which she said were the the biggest problems faced by women in Tharparkar.

'Puppets exposed'
While talking to DawnNewsTV, Punjab Law Minister accepted that it was going to be close race but expressed satisfaction "because puppets of the non-democratic forces have been exposed."

He accused Asif Zardari and Imran Khan of being "pawns of the establishment" and said their candidates are still a couple of votes behind the PML-N coalition's candidates. "This is a victory for democratic forces," Sanaullah said.

Explaining Nawaz Sharif's proposal for candidacy of PPP's Raza Rabbani, he said that the party knew it would never happen as "the nomination was never in the hands of Zardari, and forces he [Zardari] has sold himself to would never allow [Rabbani's candidacy]."

With additional reporting by Javed Hussain.

@Kabira

 

[IceCold]

So how does this support the opposition when N still has majority in the upper house.
Some people are saying he is a very pro PPP guy close to zardari, how will this affect pTI?

 

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Art of the possible rules Senate

Iftikhar A. KhanMarch 13, 2018
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NEWLY elected Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani administering the oath to deputy chairman Saleem Mandviwalla on Monday.


• Sanjrani gets 57 votes to become first-ever Senate chairman from Balochistan
• PPP’s Mandviwalla elected deputy chairman with 54 votes
• Hasil Bizenjo says Balochistan and KP assemblies were turned into a market where votes were bought

ISLAMABAD: In a historic election, the first-ever Senate chairman from Balochistan was elected with the support of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), independent candidates from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and some other opposition parties as the candidate backed by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) faced an extraordinary defeat on Monday.

Sadiq Sanjrani, an independent senator from Balochistan who had the backing of an undeclared alliance between the PPP and the PTI, secured 57 votes, defeating the PML-N-backed candidate Raja Zafarul Haq who could bag only 46 votes in the election for the office of Senate chairman.

The post of deputy chairman of the upper house of parliament was won by Saleem Mandviwalla of the PPP who received 54 votes beating his opponent Usman Kakar of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, a PML-N ally, who secured only 44 votes.

All the 103 members of the house, except former finance minister Ishaq Dar, exercised their right to vote for the Senate chairman’s election. Mr Dar has been out of the country for the past few months for ‘medical treatment’, while his recent election as senator is contested in a court.

The PML-N, which had been confident about obtaining at least 53 votes to clinch the chairman’s slot, had announced the candidates on the day of election. The ruling party that suffered a major blow in the election is yet to ascertain if those who ditched it were its allies or its own members. However, representatives of the ruling party and its allies cried foul as soon as the result was declared.

The jam-packed galleries kept resonating with slogans of Aik Zardari sab pe bhari (Zardari alone outweighs all)” amid warnings from the presiding officer, Sardar Yaqoob Nasar, who remained in the chair till the oath-taking of the new chairman Sadiq Sanjrani.

Mr Sanjrani later administered the oath to the newly elected deputy chairman Saleem Mandviwalla and presided over the remaining session.

Meanwhile, slogans in favour of PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif were also raised as the Senate staff deputed in galleries found themselves completely powerless to control the situation. A scuffle broke out between Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s son, Abdullah Abbasi, and a PTI lawmaker Hamidul Haq during the session after which the PTI member was taken out of the gallery.

Mr Sanjrani is the eighth Senate chairman and the first-ever chairman from Balochistan. His predecessors include Habib Ullah Khan, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Wasim Sajjad, Mian Mohammad Soomro, Farooq Hamid Naek, Syed Nayyar Hussain Bokhari and Mian Raza Rabbani.

The overall proceedings remained tense and even some of the speeches following elections for the two slots were bitter and fiery.

National Party President Senator Mir Hasil Bizenjo, who also holds a ministerial portfolio, said parliament stood defeated this day when it was practically proved that the ‘dominant forces’ were more powerful than the parliament.

“Today I feel ashamed to sit here,” said Mr Bizenjo, adding that parliament would have won if Raza Rabbani had been fielded as a consensus candidate.

When the chair reminded him that as per norms speeches were meant to congratulate the winners, the NP president said: “Whom should I congratulate and for what? The face of parliament had been blackened today.”

He said the assemblies of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been turned into a market where votes were purchased. He asked the ‘dominant institutions’ and political parties to let the democracy prevail.

PkMAP’s candidate Usman Kakar was more direct in his speech when he said an intelligence agency was continuously meddling in the affairs of parliament that he said was ‘venomous for the state’.

“They want to defeat parliament and democracy. They have opened up a front in the country,” he warned and appealed to all the political parties to unite for the supremacy of parliament, rule of law and constitution and prevent interference of intelligence apparatus in politics. He said the intelligence agencies had put a question mark over the upcoming general elections, too.

He said a civilian martial law was not acceptable and declared that he would continue to struggle against what all was happening without any fear.

Former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani said it was the mission of all to ensure supremacy of parliament and the rule of law. He said a loud and clear message from parliament should be put across that the wave of parliament’s supremacy could neither be jailed nor chained.

Later, the newly elected chairman, Mr Sanjrani, announced that all independently elected senators, including those from Fata, under Rule 15 of the rules of procedure and conduct of business of the Senate could join a political party within seven days after taking the oath.

Earlier during the day, 51 of the total 52 newly elected senators took the oath, followed by submission and acceptance of nomination papers for the slots of chairman and deputy chairman of Senate.

The name of Mr Sanjrani was proposed by Senator Islamuddin Shaikh and Mohammad Azam Swati, whereas Raja Mohammad Zafar-ul-Haq’s name was proposed by Senators Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, Mir Kabeer Ahmed Mohammad Shahi, Mohammad Usman Khan Kakar, Pervez Rasheed and Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri.

Similarly, Senators Kauda Babar and Mohsin Aziz proposed Senator Saleem Mandviwalla for the election of deputy chairman of Senate. Senators Sardar Mohammad Azam Khan Musakhel, Mushahidullah and Mushahid Hussain Sayed proposed the name of Senator Mohammad Usman Khan Kakar for deputy chairman of Senate.

All the 103 members of the House, except Mr Dar, exercised their right to vote for the election of Senate chairman; the five members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, however, did not vote for the election of deputy chairman.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2018

So how does this support the opposition when N still has majority in the upper house.
Some people are saying he is a very pro PPP guy close to zardari, how will this affect pTI?

What went wrong for ruling alliance?
Amir WasimMarch 13, 2018
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KRISHNA Kumari, the first Hindu woman to have been elected to the Senate, arrives at the Parliament House with her parents on Monday. She belongs to Tharparkar district of Sindh. —Tanveer Shahzad / White Star


ISLAMABAD: The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) suspects at least seven senators, including a couple of its own, ditched it in the election of Senate chairman and deputy chairman.

Raja Zafarul Haq, the candidate of the ruling alliance for the chairman, secured 46 votes — the exact total of the members of the four parties which were part of the five-party ruling alliance. This clearly shows that either no one from outside the alliance voted for Mr Haq or some of the members from within the alliance had voted for the opponents in violation of party discipline.

A number of PML-N leaders, including those who remained part of the consultations within the party and in the negotiations with other parties, said they had taken part in the elections with confidence that the ruling alliance would secure 57 votes after being assured of support by their allies and other parties.

“We had calculated 57 votes for us and 46 for the opponents. However, it turned the other way round,” said a senior PML-N leader, who described the day-long development as “depressing”.

Soul-searching within PML-N over who abandoned the party

The five-party ruling alliance presently has 48 members in the 104-member upper house of parliament. With the absence of senator-elect Ishaq Dar, the PML-N had been left with 32 senators, followed by five members each of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and the National Party (NP), four members of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) and one member of the PML-Functional.

The PML-N leader claimed their vote tally had reached 53 with the support of the two members of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), two senators from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and a Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) member and a member of the Awami National Party (ANP), which had assured the ruling party of their support.

He admitted that the delay in the announcement of the candidates also played a major role, as it allowed the rumour-mongers to launch propaganda that the PML-N-led alliance was short of numbers. Also, he believed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif should have stayed in the capital to supervise the whole exercise instead of visiting Lahore a day before the election.

The PML-N leader said they had ‘doubts’ that the four-member JUI-F and some Fata members had voted against them. He said the JUI-F was actually interested in getting the office of the deputy chairman but they lost “a toss” against the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), which later nominated Usman Kakar for the slot.

It seemed they lost interest in the whole exercise afterwards, he said, adding that the party might have been contacted by the senators-elect from Balochistan, where the JUI-F had supported a move to dislodge the PML-N government. Absence of three JUI-F senators when their names were called in alphabetical order for voting was surprising for many though they later came to the house and were allowed to vote out of turn.

The PML-N leaders suspect that a minority member of the ruling alliance and a PML-N senator from Balochistan, Kalsoom Parveen, had polled votes for the opposition-backed Sanjrani-Mandviwalla panel. According to them, there is also a possibility that the Fata senators might have voted en bloc for the candidates of the opposition parties. Ms Parveen later told a private TV channel that she had cast her second vote in favour of Mr Mandviwalla for the office of deputy chairman. She has been in the Senate since 2009. Previously associated with the Balochistan National Party-Awami (BNP-A), Ms Parveen was awarded ticket by the PML-N leadership amid opposition from some party leaders when she switched her loyalty.

Sources in the PML-N said the leadership had finalised the name of NP president Hasil Bizenjo for the Senate chairman’s office but the decision had to be changed at the last minute due to several reasons. BNP-M chief Akhtar Mengal had categorically told them on Sunday night that his party’s lone senator would not vote for the ruling alliance, if Mr Bizenjo was nominated, the sources said. Similarly, they said, the NP president’s nomination was opposed by the PkMAP.

They said the coalition partners — the PkMAP, the NP and the JUI-F — after allowing the PML-N to nominate its candidate for the chairman’s office, had told Nawaz Sharif that they would decide among themselves the candidature for the office of the deputy chairman.

They said Mr Bizenjo, who was already reluctant to accept the offer, himself withdrew from the race and then the matter between the PkMAP and the JUI-F was decided on a toss.

The sources said a PML-N delegation remained engaged with the JI and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) till late hours. Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi also accompanied the delegation during a meeting with JI leaders Sirajul Haq and Liaquat Baloch. The sources added that the MQM-P had told the ruling party’s delegation that the MQM-P could not vote for their candidates as they had already made commitment to the other group.

The sources said that a group within the PML-N wanted the leadership to hold a thorough inquiry to find out those who ditched the party and caused embarrassment to it.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2018

 

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Balochistan CM terms Sanjrani’s election victory of the province's people

Saleem ShahidUpdated March 14, 2018
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ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan, and Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo pictured during a meeting on Tuesday.—White Star

QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo has termed the election of Senate Chairman from Balochistan the victory of the people of Balochistan and criticised Hasil Khan Bizenjo’s speech in the Senate after the defeat of candidates of the government alliance for top slots of the upper house.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday after reaching Quetta from Islamabad, he said it was the first time in the history of the country that the Senate chairman had been elected from Balochistan and the move would help eliminate the sense of deprivation among the people of the province.

He said that Baloch and Pakhtun nationalists, who considered themselves to be the champion of democracy, supported the PML-N candidate instead of the candidate from Balochistan for the top slots of the Senate.

The chief minister also rejected allegations of Mr Hasil Bizenjo that undemocratic forces were behind the success of Mr Sanjrani and said: “I have not seen any hidden hand in the success of Balochistan’s candidate.” He said that the words used by leaders of the National Party and the PkMAP on the floor of the upper house were deplorable.

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The chief minister said that the struggle of PPP and its leadership was not hidden from anyone, and its leadership, despite having the second position in Senate, extended its support to the candidate nominated by the independent group of senators from Balochistan.

Besides, he said, Senators of PTI, Fata and MQM also supported the candidate from Balochistan.

“The National Party boycotted the 2008 general elections but despite that Hasil Bizenjo became a Senator. I want to ask him a question as to who was behind him, or did he commit horse-trading?”

In reply to a question about the alliance of the independent group in the coming general elections, Mr Quddus Bizenjo said that they would contest the general elections under the flag of the independent group.

“I want to request the people of Balochistan to elect their true representatives in the next election instead of stage actors,” the chief minister said.

Replying to yet another question, he said that the independent group, along with Senate Chairman Mir Sadiq Sanjrani, would not compromise on the rights of the people of the province.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2018