The issue of President General Pervez Musharraf’s re-election for a second term triggered uproar in the Senate on Thursday. The opposition questioned the authority of the cabinet to make decisions on the president’s election, and vowed to resist if the government tried to re-elect Musharraf through the current assemblies. “The opposition will resist any such move inside and outside parliament. Our option of tendering en-bloc resignations is still open,” said Opposition Leader in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani. On a point of order, Rabbani said the government must explain if the cabinet had made a decision to re-elect Musharraf through the current assemblies, as the press quoted Muhammad Ali Durrani as saying. The PPPP’s Dr Babar Awan and Safdar Abassi and the MMA’s Professor Khurshid Ahmed backed Raza Rabbani. Wasim Sajjad, the leader of the house, tried to explain constitutional provisions on the president’s election, but the opposition senators refused to listen, saying they wanted a categorical statement on whether the cabinet had made a decision to re-elect Musharraf or not.
Harsh words were also exchanged between Safdar Abbasi and State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kamil Ali Aga. The parliamentary affairs minister said Durrani had made it clear that he did not say the cabinet had decided to re-elect Musharraf through the current assemblies. The opposition staged a token walkout for not being allowed to raise the issue of a recent raid in Waziristan that reportedly killed some 20 “militants”. MMA, PPPP and PML-N senators walked out of the house in protest when Presiding Officer Khalid Ranjha did not allow Liaquat Bengalzi to raise the Waziristan issue on a point of order.