PML-N, PPP strike reconciliatory tone in Senate as opposition laments political victimisation

As PPP Senator Sherry Rehman and PML-N’s Irfan Siddiqui struck a reconciliatory tone with the opposition on Friday, PTI’s Ali Zafar lamented the “political victimisation” of his party.

Addressing the Upper House on Friday, Rehman hailed yesterday’s Senate session as “very exemplary”, adding that it was a source of pride for the lawmakers.

Thursday’s Senate session — the first of the current parliamentary year — had turned out to be hot and cold where opposition and treasury benches traded barbs but also agreed on working together to pull the country out of the economic quagmire.

In a separate statement, she had also called on the PTI to “not add fuel to the fire” and warned that “keeping the country at a boiling point was to no one’s benefit”.

Speaking in the Senate today, Sherry welcomed Leader of the Opposition Shibli Faraz back to the upper house of Parliament. The PPP leader also said that she had not prepared a speech since “speaking from the heart on the first day is a good indicator”.

“I think that what President Zardari has said should be welcomed,” Rehman said, referring to the president’s parliamentary address wherein he had called for moving on from the polarisation plaguing domestic politics.

She added that President Zardari had not invited a specific party but had called on all stakeholders to play their role. “The PPP has always made sacrifices but has never considered itself above the country, the state and Pakistan’s pride,” she said.

“There has never been any political prisoner during the PPP’s tenure […] We have never carried out witch-hunting [but have] always extended a hand of friendship and harmony,” she said.

She stressed that instead of repeating old statements made by former premier Imran Khan, politicians would have to “genuinely forge a new beginning and respect each other if we want to turn a new page”.

“Today, you have a chance to change your tone and attitude,” the PPP leader said while addressing the opposition benches as she warned the Senate against “wasting” its term.

On allegations of rigging in the February 8 general elections, Rehman quipped, “Which election in Pakistan has been held correctly?”

Noting that the PPP had submitted more than 50 applications in election tribunals this time, she stressed that as legislators, a lawmaker’s duty was to “knock on the right door at the right time” even if the “justice received is not the justice you wish for”.

“Countries are not run by just concocting narratives,” Rehman emphasised, adding that she had not “seen such a naazuk mor (critical junction) except in 1971”.

“Let us turn the page that the president of Pakistan said,” she added.

Separately, Senator Irfan Siddiqui, the PML-N’s parliamentary leader, also urged the PTI to hold talks with his party to solve the crises plaguing the country.

He said he was seeing a “better, good, positive and constructive environment” in the Senate over the past few days. Siddiqui also congratulated PTI Senator Shibli Faraz on assuming his role as the opposition leader.

He remarked that while separate political parties existed, the “biggest party was Pakistan”.

Acknowledging that the opposition had its “own emotions”, the PML-N leader said: “If we were in pain yesterday, today they are the ones; they will express that and we cannot stop that.”

However, he added, it was imperative to settle on an environment where everyone was heard.

Stating that a “great number” of lawmakers had been elected on the name of the PTI founder, who he said he “mentioned with respect”, Siddiqui highlighted there were a number of matters that both parties had different views on.

“In my opinion, there is not even a single political prisoner in Pakistan,” he said, adding that a political detainee was one who had been “trapped and put in jail in fabricated cases based on their political affiliation”.

Siddiqui went on to say: “Even today, we extend our hand towards them. Shake hands. Leave politics aside in this House [as] I said Pakistan is a party.”

Siddiqui said that if the PTI could nominate Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai as its presidential candidate and be willing to talk to JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, then “why don’t you sit with us for Pakistan’s construction, to solve issues and take Pakistan forward?”

Opposition laments ‘political victimisation’

Meanwhile, PTI Senator Ali Zafar lamented that the political vendetta“ against his party was still continuing.

At the outset of his speech, he expressed his “trust and confidence” in Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gillani heading the House in an “absolutely fair manner”.

“My request to you, as the representative of PTI and opposition, is that you chair this house strictly according to the rule of business,” Zafar said to Gillani.

The PTI leader complained about senators from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa being absent from the session as they had not yet been elected, because elections were postponed due to reserved MPAs not being sworn in.

“If we do not put a halt to the experiment of political divide that we have seen in the past and are witnessing currently, […] then the Senate would not be able to deal with all these international issues,” the PTI leader warned.

Acknowledging that the opposition had the duty to speak with responsibility, Zafar responded to Rehman: “The biggest duty is that you also have the ability and patience to tolerate criticism, and it will definitely come from our side — harsh criticism that will be based on reality.

“We will speak to you with responsibility but we will also criticise you,” the senator asserted.

Zafar highlighted that exemplary injustice was done with the PTI and that “limits of revenge were crossed” against Imran and his wife Bushra Bibi. He said that trials were conducted in jail and sentences were handed out within 15 days of the proceedings.

He further lamented that reserved seats in the National Assembly were “snatched from the PTI” as they had been distributed to the coalition parties.

“Leave the legal [aspect] aside, see it politically; is it in accordance with the democratic process that the biggest political party does not get reserved seats?” Zafar asked.

The senator, noting yet another challenge to its fresh intra-party polls, said: “If political victimisation [against the PTI] continues and the Senate does not fulfil its Constitutional, legal and moral duty to settle this matter, I regrettably have to say that then there is no peace.”