special committee proposed for holding talks on election issue

ISLAMABAD _Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani on Thursday wrote letters to Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Leader of the Opposition Dr Shehzad Waseem, seeking four names each from government and the opposition as members of the committee.

The Senate chairman has asked both the sides to put forward their respective names within two days.

The Special committee will move forward under the joint convenorship of Leader of the House in Senate (Ishaq Dar) and Leader of the Opposition (Dr Shehzad Waseem).

Sadiq Sanjrani remarked that his office and Senate Secretariat were available the whole time to fully assist the special committee.

The Senate chairman further remarked that Parliament is the right forum to resolve the political issues.

In his letter to PTI leader Shehzad Waseem, the Senate chairman said he had been approached by the ruling coalition to mediate a “political dialogue to address the ongoing political and economic crises including the holding of general elections.”

“The Senate of Pakistan; House of Federation, being a stabilising factor of the Federation is constitutionally bestowed with the responsibility of protecting the national and political harmony vis-a-vis the national and public interest,” he wrote.

Sanjrani added that a 10-member special committee for holding political dialogue is being constituted under the joint convenership of the Leader of the House in the Senate and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and comprising four members each from the treasury and opposition benches.

He further mentioned that his office and the Senate will be available to facilitate the talks. He then asked Waseem to provide, on the PTI’s behalf, the names of four members from the opposition benches, to be made part of the committee in two days.

Earlier,

-Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday constituted a three-member committee to hold talks with the PDM-led government over the latter’s decision to hold simultaneous elections in the country.

The committee contains PTI vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, PTI senior vice president Fawad Chaudhry, and senator Ali Zafar. The move comes as the Supreme Court had ordered the political stakeholders to end political deadlock and submit a report by April 27.

The government, represented by federal law minister Azam Nazir Tarar and railway minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, responded positively and asked Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani to nominate five senators each from the government and the opposition to form a committee.

The government representatives also requested the chairman to provide space in the parliament to hold negotiations. Mr Sanjrani will write to the opposition in this regard. So far Opposition leader in the senate Dr Shehzad Wasim and PTI leader Asad Umar have been approached.