Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Yousaf Raza Gillani announced stepping down from the post of the Senate opposition leader on Monday, days after the Senate approved the SBP Amendment Bill 2021 with a single vote.
Gillani, who was conspicuous by his absence from the session, came under fire from the opposition lawmakers, including his party colleague Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar.
On Friday, Senate passed the controversial bill with a razor-thin majority, which the Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said “became possible due to the cooperation extended by the Pakistan Peoples Party and Gillani.
During the Senate session, Gillani responded to the criticism, saying he was being accused of siding with the government over the SBP bill which was the reason he had decided to step down.
The PPP leader said he has sent his resignation to the party leadership as he criticised Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani for his impartial conduct during the session wherein the bill was passed.
Gillani further lashed out at Sanjrani, saying the chairman did not send the bill to the committee. “A chairman is supposed to be a representative of the house, not the government,” he said, adding that posts of the Senate chairman and the National Assembly speaker should not be controversial.
“You adjourned the session for 30 minutes to facilitate the treasury benches,” Gillani said while addressing Sanjrani. He said a message was sent to his office about the session but the communique didn’t specify if the SBP bill was a part of the agenda.
“It is being said that I supported the government on this issue…I have resigned [as Senate opposition leader] over the matter,” he said, adding that the resignation letter was sent to the party leadership.
‘Sanjrani had to vote’
Leader of the House Dr Shehzad Wasim also addressed the Senate session. During his speech, he said Gillani was a “very senior parliamentarian”. He added that it was important to keep track of the agenda and its items. “On the day the bill was passed, the opposition thumped desks for the [SBP] bill to be tabled,” he said.
“Sometimes the government also doesn’t have required numbers, it is not unusual,” he added. Referring to the vote cast by the Senate chief in favour of the government, Dr Wasim said Sanjrani had to cast his vote to break the 43-43 tie between the government and the opposition.
He said the rules of the upper house should be decided in advance, adding that accepting what is favourable to the opposition and rejecting what does not go their way cannot become a practice.
The leader of the house’s remarks apparently created a ruckus in the Senate as the lawmakers from both the government and the opposition resorted to sloganeering and rowdiness.
SBP bill and Opp numbers
Gillani, who is also the former prime minister, preferred attending a friend’s funeral over the most important sitting of the Senate that handed over absolute autonomy to the central bank.
Some members of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, JUI-F, and Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) did not attend the session while a lone member of the Awami National Party (ANP) also skipped the final voting, helping the government get the bill passed with 43-42 majority.
On the condition of the International Monetary Fund, the government had proposed about 54 amendments in the SBP Act of 1956.
After approval of the bill by the Senate, Pakistan has met the last remaining condition for holding the IMF executive board meeting to revive the stalled $6 billion bailout programme.
