Senate Chairman should remain neutral

Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani on Thursday imposed a ban on entry of Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry in the upper house of parliament until he apologized for his remarks against opposition leaders. Earlier, all the opposition parties in the Senate had staged a walkout against remarks of Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry against opposition leaders and announced they will continue their boycott till an apology is tendered. But a day earlier, Senator Mashahdullah had passed derogatory remarks against the PTI and its leadership. During a Senate session in October 2018 also, Senate chairman had asked Fawad Chaudhry to leave the house; however, he never took action against Mushahdullah Khan. In August 2015, Mushahdullah Khan was forced to resign as the Minister for Climate Change when in an interview to the BBC he had alleged that the then DG ISI Zaheer-ul-Islam wanted to overthrow the civil and military leadership of Pakistan.
In the wake of the opposition’s walkout, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak met the Senate chairman along with leader of the house and exchanged views on running affairs of the house. Khattak also conveyed to Sanjrani a special message of the Prime Minister Imran Khan and assured him of the government’s full cooperation on behalf of the PM. Sanjrani thanked the PM and said Imran Khan had enhanced the prestige and dignity of the house by taking immediate action. The question is why Senator Mushahdullah Khan was not asked to leave the House during a Senate Session in October 2018, when he had criticized rather badmouthed the PTI and its leadership, and the ruling party and its allies had staged a walk out and demanded action against him. It has to be mentioned that Sadiq Sanjrani was elected Senate chairman securing 57 votes with the support of the PPP and PTI.
The runner-up Raja Zafar-ul-Haq, a candidate of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its allied parties, secured 46 votes. Earlier, Pakhtunkhua Milli Awami party Leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai had proposed names of Mushahidullah and Pervez Rasheed of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for the slots of Senate chairman and deputy chairman. PML-N leaders including Rana Sanaullah had then said that Sadiq Sanjrani was candidate of the non-democratic forces of the country, insinuating the establishment. Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry had a point when he said that Senate chairman was under pressure and was scared of no-confidence motion, as such he was trying to appease the PML-N leaders. As a Senate chairman, he should remain neutral instead of taking sides of those who had fielded candidate against him otherwise his name will go down in the history as unjust and partisan chairman of the Senate.
Last year, an effort to prove his loyalty to the Sharif family had cost PML-N’s Nehal Hashmi his seat in the parliament, as he had been asked by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to immediately quit the Senate over his controversial speech in which he appears to threaten the members of the joint investigation team (JIT) and judiciary probing the Panama Papers case. Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar had taken a suo motu notice of Mr. Hashmi’s speech and summoned him to appear before the special bench hearing the Panama Papers case. The chief justice had taken the notice “on the note of the registrar containing the details of the speech threatening the institutions of dire consequences,” said an official announcement of the Supreme Court. On the directive from the prime minister, Hashmi had submitted his resignation to the Senate secretariat.
Despite belonging to Karachi, Mushahdullah Khan and Nehal Hashmi were elected after receiving the party tickets to contest the Senate election from Punjab otherwise they had no chance to become members of the upper house from Sindh or any other province. They resorted to scathing criticism on Pakistan’s policies and its institutions more than the detractors or enemies of Pakistan do. Another PML-N ally, Chief of Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Mehmood Khan Achakzai had told the BBC Urdu service last year that Pakistan should take the initiative for independent Kashmir. He said that let the Pakistan should take the initiative, as Kashmir is root cause of many issues between both the countries. He is compulsive detractor of Pakistan and its institutions. There is a perception that they have had blessings of the PML-N top leadership, but when the pressure came from the institutions, it made its loyalists scapegoats.