Senate | Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Barbs flew in the Senate on Friday with the opposition taking the government to task over its policies and demanding a parliamentary probe into “institutional overreach” and “election fraud”. In response, the government accused the opposition of committing “economic terrorism” while also chiding it for the Results Transmission System (RTS) fiasco in the 2018 general polls. Speaking on a calling-attention notice, PTI’s Ali Zafar, the party’s parliamentary leader in the Senate, said Parliament had been made irrelevant and meaningless. His speech was interrupted several times by the members of the treasury benches, who loudly objected to his remarks. “Matters pertaining to the country’s economy, security and foreign policy are not brought before Parliament; [instead] decisions are taken in drawing rooms,” he said, regretting that even agreements linked to the country’s future were signed while keeping Parliament in the dark. “This is a betrayal of the constitutional concept of civilian supremacy,” he ...

State Minister for Finance and Revenue Bilal Azhar Kayani on Friday informed the Senate that the government had successfully steered the country away from default, restored economic stability, and was now focused on achieving sustainable growth and creating jobs.

ISLAMABAD - Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar on Tuesday informed the Senate that there was no restriction or ban on admissions of Baloch students in Punjab’s public sector universities.

Hours after he was notified as the opposition leader in the Senate on Tuesday, Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) chief Allama Raja Nasir Abbas met lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha, expressing solidarity with them and ruing that “dissent has been made a crime” in the country. The meeting took place at the office of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) president, following which a statement on Abbas’s X account detailed his media talk after his interaction with the lawyers. The post quoted him as saying that Pakistan was currently going through a “severe crisis”. “Unfortunately, the country seems to be heading in a direction where fundamental rights of people, constitutional guarantees and human dignity are being continuously violated. The real tragedy is that those who have the power and authority are the ones ruthlessly crushing the state’s soft power. “Today, civil society, lawyers, human rights organisations and every other voice that raises awareness and questions is being p...

ISLAMABAD: Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) chief Allama Raja Nasir Abbas was appointed as the opposition leader in the Senate on Tuesday. Abbas — vice chairman of Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayin-i-Pakistan (TTAP) — had been chosen by PTI founder Imran Khan as the opposition’s choice for the seat, which had been vacant since August 2025. “In pursuance of sub-rule (3) of Rule 16 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 2012, the chairman Senate has been pleased to declare Senator Raja Nasir Abbas as leader of the opposition in the Senate, with immediate effect,” said a notification issued by the Senate Secretariat. Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gilani also announced Abbas’s appointment as the opposition leader during Tuesday’s session in the House. As the proceedings began, he said: “I want to give a ruling. Before proceeding further, I consider it necessary to place on record the legal and procedural background relating to the declaration of the leader of the opposition in the Senate. “Rule 16 o...

ISLAMABAD: Alarm bells were rung in the Senate on Monday over the recently launched military operation in the Tirah area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Khyber tribal district. Speaking on a point of public importance, ANP chief Senator Aimal Wali Khan accused the federal government of being in a “deep slumber” over the ongoing operation in KP, leaving the people helpless and clueless. He said such “processes” had been carried out in the past in KP with all stakeholders on board. “But this time, the Centre is sleeping, whereas the provincial government is unbothered about what is going on,” he added. “The federal government is behaving as if KP is out of its jurisdiction, and the provincial government is headed by one who is openly talking against the system and is not ready to accept any operation,” he contended. “Please leave aside day-to-day things and talk about this operation, as the KP government is not even bothered to arrange tents for the displaced people,” he said. Senator Palwasha asks for her privilege mo...

ISLAMABAD: PTI Senator Ali Zafar said on Monday that Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gilani had communicated to him that Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) chief Allama Raja Nasir Abbas would be notified as the opposition leader in the upper house of Parliament by tomorrow (Tuesday). Speaking to Dawn, Zafar said he had submitted a letter to the Senate chairperson, seeking the appointment of Abbas. According to the PTI senator, Gilani had accepted the opposition’s demand of appointing Abbas to the vacant position and said that an announcement about his appointment would also be made in the House. In a post on X, Zafar said that he had a meeting with the Senate chairman regarding the appointment of the opposition leader. “[The] chairman informed me that he has approved the appointment and directed the secretariat to issue a formal notification,” Zafar said. He welcomed the decision, saying that the party would be able convey its perspective in the Senate more effectively. The opposition leader’s posts in the Senate an...

Senate may get new opposition leader today

Senior PTI leaders imprisoned in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail on Saturday demanded that Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) chief Senator Allama Raja Nasir Abbas be appointed the Senate opposition leader immediately. In a letter seen by Dawn, PTI leaders Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Senator Ejaz Chaudhry, Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed and Umar Sarfraz Cheema congratulated veteran politician Mehmood Khan Achakzai on his appointment as the opposition leader in the National Assembly after a months-long delay. The letter was shared with the media by their counsel, Rana Mudassir. The PTI leaders hoped Achakzai, under the guidance of party founder Imran Khan, would fulfil his responsibility in restoring democracy and the Constitution, ensuring the rule of law, the supremacy of the judiciary and the protection of the fundamental rights of the people and political workers. They also hoped that Achakzai would hold consultations on lifting Pakistan out of the quagmire and economic crisis it has been dealing with for the p...

Former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani has called on the National Assembly (NA) speaker and Senate chairman to appoint opposition leaders in both houses of Parliament, saying that leaving the posts vacant “sidelines dissent”. The posts have been lying vacant since August last year, when then-opposition leaders in the NA and Senate — PTI’s Omar Ayub and Shibli Faraz — were disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan following their conviction in cases related to riots on May 9, 2023. The PTI has nominated Pakhtun­khwa Milli Awami Party chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai as the opposition leader for the NA and Majlis Wahdat-i-Musl­imeen’s Allama Raja Nasir Abbas for the Senate slot, but their notification remains pending. Rabbani pointed out in a statement on Monday that “Parliament is incomplete”, adding that “this exposes a contradiction in our democracy”. “We talk of the supremacy of Parliament, yet less inclined to uphold this principle,” he added. Saying that the “political system is already strained by pola...

ISLAMABAD: In a move billed by its sponsors as reaffirming parliament’s supremacy, a process has been initiated to amend a Senate rule to limit the scope for high courts to intervene in parliamentary affairs. Amid opposition from the Ministry of Parl­ia­mentary Affairs, the Senate Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges has approved an amendment to Rule 166(5) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate. Backers say the change will leave no legal room for the judiciary to interfere in parliamentary matters by relying on the rule in its present form. The proposed amendment, spearheaded by former deputy chairman Saleem Mandviwalla and signed by around three dozen lawmakers, expands the definition of public petitions that can be taken up by Senate committees. It states that a public petition, submitted by a citizen or a group of citizens in the prescribed form under Rule 277, may be presented on “any matter of public importance”, including grievances arising from disputes wher...

PPP leader Sherry Rehman has said that Minister for Communications Abdul Aleem Khan must apologise following his heated exchange with Senator Palwasha Khan during a Senate panel meeting on Friday. Pal­washa, who is also a PPP leader, and the federal minister had traded sharp remarks on Friday over the construction of a road allegedly benefiting a private housing society during a meeting of the Senate Stan­ding Committee on Com­mu­ni­cations. View this post on Instagram In a post on the social media platform X late on Friday night, Rehman said, “What happened today in a Senate standing committee can neither become normalised nor considered acceptable. No federal minister should speak the way Aleem Khan did with Senator Palwasha in a communications committee meeting.” Rehman further said that it was Senator Palwasha’s “absolute responsibility and right to ask questions” and to hold the government accountable. “He must apologise. I am not even going to say that it is necessary because she is a woman. She is due ...

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Monday congratulated Abid Sher Ali on his unopposed election to the Senate, extending best wishes for his future responsibilities.

The Election Commission of Punjab has released the final schedule for the by-election to fill the Senate seat left vacant after the death of Senator Irfan-ul-Haq Siddiqui.

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said the IMF’s Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment (GCDA) report was a step towards much-needed institutional reforms, adding that the government had itself initiated and facilitated the process. Winding up the debate on a motion moved by JUI-F’s Kamran Murtaza in the Senate on Monday, the finance minister said the report covered seven areas, including judicial oversight and corruption, and identifies structural deficiencies — which he termed a positive development. He said it provided 15 recommendations for institutional reforms. He assured the Senate that work on these recommendations was underway, citing the recent law passed by parliament requiring public servants to declare their assets. “We will share our action plan on institutional reforms with the public and parliament,” he said, adding that such diagnostic reports had been released for many countries and represented best practices to assess governance in other jurisdictions. He dismissed...

• Imran’s allies demand immediate access for family, doctors and lawyers • Warn of dire consequences amid unease among public • Minister accuses Afghan, Indian media of circulating ‘false’ reports about PTI leader ISLAMABAD: Amid a noisy protest in the Senate for a second day by PTI senators, the government on Friday assured the House that former prime minister Imran Khan was in good health with no threat to his life and blamed Afghan and Indian media for circulating “false” reports about Mr Khan’s health. The ruckus by PTI lawmakers, alarmed by social media reports about Mr Khan’s condition, dominated the day’s proceedings. They chanted slogans and hit their desks, demanding that family members, doctors and lawyers be allowed to meet with Mr Khan after what they called a “complete blackout for weeks”. Syed Ali Zafar, the PTI parliamentary leader in the Senate, sought an explanation from the government about the reports. “The tension level of the public has risen so high that there will be an explosion if the...

Additional Interior Secretary Salman Chaudhry said on Thursday that the United Arab Emirates had not been issuing visas to Pakistanis. Pakistan and the UAE share close diplomatic, economic, and cultural ties. The UAE is one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners in the Middle East and a major source of remittances, with a large Pakistani expatriate population living and working there. The secretary made this revelation during a meeting of the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights, further stating that Saudi Arabia and the UAE had “stopped short of imposing a ban on the Pakistani passport”. “If a ban is imposed, getting it removed would be difficult,” he warned. The official said that currently, the UAE was only issuing visas to blue and diplomatic passport holders. Separately, Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri, who heads the Senate committee on human rights, also confirmed that the interior ministry official’s remarks to Dawn. She said the bar was attributed to concerns about people travelling to the UAE and ...

Senate body vows support for sports revival

The Senate swiftly passed four bills related to the recently approved contentious 27th Constitutional Amendment on Friday, including one that seeks changes to the Army Act and resets the tenure of Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir after his appointment as the chief of the defence forces (CDF). As explained by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar in the National Assembly (NA) yesterday, this means that the five-year tenure of the chief of the defence forces would commence from the date of his notification of the appointment. The four bills were passed by the Senate today — a day after their hurried passage in the National Assembly — without debate and with little resistance from the opposition. Apart from the Pakistan Army Amendment Bill 2025, the bills also included the Pakistan Air Force Amendment Bill 2025, the Pakistan Navy Amendment Bill 2025, and the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Amendment Bill 2025. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar tabled the Pakistan Army Amen...

The Army Act Amendment Bill will be presented before the Senate today (Friday) for formal approval as part of a major legislative agenda set for the session.