Pakistani government slams opposition’s motion to remove Senate Chairman

Islamabad, June 27 (IANS) The Pakistani government has denounced opposition parties' decision to bring a no-confidence motion to remove the chairman of the senate, or the Upper House of Parliament.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan held a press conference here on Wednesday night and said such efforts cannot pressurize the government to stop its anti-corruption movement, economic reforms and new policies to expand the revenue collection system, reports Xinhua news agency.

Earlier in the day, a multi-party conference under an informal opposition alliance, which continued for eight hours in the capital Islamabad, announced to make efforts to remove the pro-government Chairman of Senate Sadiq Sanjrani.

According to the media, the opposition parties can easily remove the chairman through no-confidence motion as they have more than the simple majority required for the successful no-confidence motion in the house of 104 members.

Opposition party Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam-Fazal hosted the conference and it was attended by other major opposition parties, including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People's Party.

The opposition alliance also announced to form a committee, which will choose another senator to be appointed as the new chairman of the house.

During the meeting, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz said that a change in the senate chairmanship would not solve all their problems, but it would be a big hit to the government and it will shake the foundations of the government.

The opposition parties' leaders also discussed the possibilities of launching an anti-government protest in the future.