Islamabad March 7 (TNS): In an unusual development, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has suggested that his party could weigh in on the option to agree on the name of Raza Rabbani for the slot of Senate chairman if his party forwards his name for the coveted seat.
Speaking at a huddle with coalition parties, Sharif suggested that since Rabbani has performed to the best of his abilities as Senate chairman in the previous term, the ruling PML-N will have no objection if the Pakistan People’s Party floats his name for the coveted seat.
JUI-F chief Maulana Fazal Rehman, PkMAP chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai and other leaders of the coalition parties also appreciated Sharif’s proposal and said that they would take up the suggestion within their respective parties before coming up with a reply.
Sharif also said that he will also place before his party the name of Rabbani as a consensus candidate for the Senate chairman slot.
Sources told TNS that the PML-N leadership by agreeing on the name of Rabbani wants to garner maximum support in the Upper House of the Parliament to bring constitutional amendments especially aim at decreasing the upper age limit of superior court judges from 65 to 61. If the constitutional amendment regarding the age limit of the judge was brought with a two-thirds majority — 67 votes — three senior most judges of Supreme Court, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Izaul Hassan, will automatically retire.
According to the sources, the PML-N leadership thinks that the three senior judges “keep personal grudges” against the party leaders especially Nawaz Sharif and the ruling party could not afford justice Khosa and Afzal to be the next Chief Justice of Pakistan one after another.
According to the sources, the PML-N would also introduce another constitutional amendment in the Senate, seeking legislation to remove the ban on Sharif to hold public office for life.
