Daily Times

The opposition parties in the Senate on Thursday protested over the statement of a Minister and staged a walkout from the House against the recent rise in prices of petroleum products.

Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Dr Shehzad Waseem and Senator Mushtaq Ahmed criticized the government for raising the prices of petroleum products. Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani asked the opposition members not to disrupt the proceedings and present their recommendations regarding the budget. Later, the Opposition staged a token walkout from the House. The Senate chairman asked Senator Bahramand Tangi to bring back the opposition. Later, the opposition returned to the House.

Dr Shahzad Waseem drew the attention of the Senate Chairman saying that ECP has issued a schedule for election on the seat that fell vacant due to the demise of Dr Sikandar Mandhro. He said indeed, the dead body of the deceased member of the Senate Dr Sikandar Mandhro was still in the United States of America and arrangements were underway to bring his dead body for onward burial in Pakistan. But surprisingly showing undue haste, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued an election schedule for the seat of Dr. Sikandar. Bahramand Khan Tangi asked ECP to stop the electioneering process on the vacant seat of Dr. Sikandar as the deceased Senator has not yet been buried. Mushtaq Ahmed said ECP has overstepped from its mandate by announcing the election schedule and ECP should be directed to postpone the schedule. Ejaz Chaudhry said no benefit to appealing ECP as they did not pay heed to any appeals. He blamed ECP for what he said was a mess in Punjab as the ECP did not announce the names of alternate candidates of PTI on five reserve seats declared vacant due to disqualification of dissident Members of Provincial Assembly (MPAs) of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani directed the ECP to postpone the election schedule of the Senate seat which fell vacant due to the death of Senator Dr. Sikandar Mandhro as his burial has not yet taken place.

Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani asked fellow Senators to avoid playing to the galleries and criticizing institutions.