ISLAMABAD: Former premier and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif has challenged PTI chief Imran Khan to spill the beans on those who ordered him to vote for Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani and deputy chairman Saleem Mandviwalla.
Speaking to media persons in London after a meeting with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and former finance minister Ishaq Dar over a caretaker government, Sharif said the recent disclosures made by the JI chief has proved that PTI chief and other political parties had always looked towards the “umpire’s finger” and “orders from the top.”
He said the senate chairman and deputy chairman have lost credibility after Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader Sirajul Haq’s claims.
The former premier, who is in London to see his ailing wife Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, is likely to return soon as the court had rejected his plea for one-week exemption from personal appearance in court.
Lately, Chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Siraj-ul-Haq made a surprising revelation, claiming that PTI received orders ‘from the top’ to vote for Sadiq Sanjrani for the post of Senate chairman.
Talking to mediamen in Mansoora on Friday in Lahore, Haq called for action against lawmakers involved in buying and selling votes in the Senate polls.
The KP chief minister told us that a Balochistan candidate has to
be voted in for the post of Senate chairman. “I enquired the name of the candidate, but Mr. Pervez Khattak feigned ignorance and said he would convey the name once he is told about it. The name has been recommended from the top”.The JI chief hastened to add that he did not understand what Mr Khattak meant by “from the top”
Despite the victory of PTI-backed candidate, pro-Zardari slogans were chanted after the election of Senate chairman, said the JI emir.
Reacting to JI chief’s statement, KP government spokesman Shaukat Yousufzai said: “Sirajul Haq should not play innocent now. His party enjoyed power for five years and now he is trying to turn his back on everything.”
On March 12, Sadiq Sanjrani was elected Senate chairman. Sanjrani secured 57 votes, while PML-N backed Raja Zafarul Haq secured 46 out of the total 103 votes cast for the seat of the Senate chairman.
Sanjrani, an independent senator, was backed by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).
Senate chairman is the custodian of the upper house and remains politically impartial at the time of discharging his duties. The chairman represents both the opposition and treasury benches. In absence of the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Senate chairman acts as the President.
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