Leader of the Opposition in Senate will be from PML-N: Maryam Nawaz

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Sunday claimed that the Leader of the Opposition in Senate would be from her party, ARY News reported.

Talking to journalists following a meeting with Jamiat Ulema-E-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman in Lahore, Maryam Nawaz said, “It is a principled decision.

She maintained that PDM member parties had decided that they would vote for PPP’s Yousuf Raza Gilani for the Senate chairman election, JUI-F’s Abdul Ghafoor Haideri for the deputy chairman, while the Leader of the Opposition in the upper house of the Parliament would be from the PML-N.

“There is no room for change in the decision after the victory or loss of anyone,” she added.

On the occasion, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman termed the reports about differences within the ranks of PDM as rumors and said that the opposition’s alliance is united. He urged the leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) to respect the opinion of nine member parties of the PDM.

Earlier on March 16, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had clearly told his fellow PDM leaders that his party’s lawmakers won’t resign from assemblies at any cost and demanded that PML-N Supreme Leader Mian Nawaz Sharif should fly back to country “for a decisive battle” with the government.

Addressing a Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) meeting in Lahore through video link, the former president had maintained that going for a last-resort option like mass resignations will only strengthen the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.