Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz, Pakistan Peoples Party and other opposition parties, put together, form a majority in Senate, but they managed to turn this majority into a minority on Friday and allowed the government to get the State Bank of Pakistan Amendment Bill passed.

This is how it happened.

The opposition has 57 Senators and government only 42. The government was further short of its four members who failed to turn up for the session on Friday.

However, a large number of opposition Senators disappeared from the House.

While government Senator Zarqa arrived in the house in a wheelchair with an oxygen cylinder and a team of doctors for the most important legislation, the Opposition Leader in Senate Yousaf Raza Gilani failed to travel from Multan to the federal capital.

PMLN Senator Nuzhat Sadiq could not attend the meeting due to being abroad and Mushahid Hussain did not show up because he tested positive for Covid-19.

Sarda Shafiq Tareen of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Naseema Ehsan of BNP Mengal, Qasim Ranjo of BNP, Sikandar Mahendra of PPP and Senator Talha Mahmood of JUI were also absent.

Omar Farooq Kasi of ANP walked out of the House during the voting. The independent members of the Dilawar group tilted the balance by casting their votes for the government.

Thus, the bill was passed by 43 to 42 votes.

Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry thanked Yousuf Raza Gilani for being absent from the house.

On the other hand, speaking on SAMAA TV’s show Ehtesaab, Gilani said that it is difficult to maintain a majority during the entire session.

He said the rules were broken and the agenda was given on the day of the meeting. “It was not possible for me to arrive at the Senate session at 10am, after getting the order of the day at 1am the previous night.

The PPP leader said that he had defeated the government at its home ground. “Who can put pressure on us?”



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