PML-N cries foul as opposition-backed candidates take Senate's top slots

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders and lawmakers heavily criticised the “PPP-PTI collusion” which resulted in opposition-backed candidates Sadiq Sanjrani and Mandviwalla’s election as Chairman and Deputy Chairman Senate, ARY News reported on Monday.

PML-N, despite being the majority party in the upper house, could not get its candidates elected to the top posts in Senate,  as the house elected opposition-backed candidates Sadiq Sanjrani as chairman and Saleem Mandviwalla as deputy chairman.

PML-N leaders Marriyum Aurangzeb and Talal Chaudhry lashed out at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan for “colluding” with Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Zardari to get Sanjrani and Mandviwalla elected despite accusing him (Zardari) of corruption in the past.

She maintained that the Senate election was a repeat of what happened in Balochistan Assembly in January when PML-N government was toppled.

“PPP used to chant the Bhutto Zinda Hai (Bhutto is alive) slogan but Bhutto got martyred today,” said Marriyum Aurangzeb accusing PPP of playing in the hands of “invisible forces”

She was of the view that Imran Khan repeated what he did in 2014 when he staged a sit-in and “danced on the orders of umpire”.

‘You have lost it badly’

PML-N leader and daughter of deposed PM Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, however, tweeted that her party’s opponents have “lost it badly” as people have seen their “real face”.

“Pawns, you have not won, in fact it (election of Senate chairman, deputy chairman) is your biggest defeat,” tweeted Maryam Nawaz, daring both PPP and PTI leader to face public.

She also took a dig at Imran Khan by calling him Umpire Ki Ungli Ka Bewpari (a merchant selling dreams on umpire’s behest) and said that he and Zardari bowed down before a single master.

During the 2014 sit-in, PTI chief talked about an “umpire” who will raise a finger to declare Nawaz Sharif’s dismissal as PM.

“Today’s Senate Elections were controlled by the same forces which removed an elected PM of the country. The difference is He became more powerful but parliament lost its respect!! Let’s respect vote! Let’s not shatter the confidence in democratic institutions,” tweeted Hina Butt, a Punjab Assembly member and PML-N leader.

She also termed the election of an independent candidate as the chairman of the upper house a “mockery of party politics in Pakistan”.

Maryam Nawaz, Marriyum Aurangzeb and Hina Butt, however, did not make it clear as to what they actually mean by “invisible forces” or “umpire”.