Tarin nominated for Senate, likely to be elected unopposed

[Naveed Yaseen]

Tuesday, July 28, 2009
By Imtiaz Ali

Karachi

Prime Minister’s Adviser on Finance Shaukat Tarin has been nominated by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) for a technocrat seat in the Senate, an opportunity that had opened up after Senator Javed Leghari had vacated his seat.

This decision was taken at a PPP parliamentary party meeting held at the Chief Minister (CM) House on Monday, which was presided over by Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah. Members of provincial assembly (MPAs) belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q), Awami National Party (ANP) and National People’s Party (NPP) — coalition partners of the provincial government — also attended the meeting and endorsed Tarin’s nomination, paving the way for his unopposed election.

It was also decided in the meeting that the coalition partners would jointly submit Tarin’s nomination papers on Tuesday (today) before the Provincial Election Commissioner. Sources in the PPP maintained that Tarin would try to resolve financial problems amongst provinces when he becomes head of the recently-constituted National Finance Commission (NFC), and would do so with the cooperation of all stakeholders.

Sources further added that MPAs belonging to the coalition parties would arrive at the CM House on Tuesday at 10:15am. They would then travel to the the office of the Provincial Election Commissioner in the form of a caravan, which would be led by the chief minister.

Sources revealed that three nomination papers of proposer and seconder have been filled, with Minister for Law Ayaz Soomro and Minister for Local Government Aga Siraj Durrani, Minister for Home Dr Zulfiqar Mirza and Minister for Food Nadir Magsi and Opposition leader Jam Madad Ali and MPA Rana Abdul Sattar named as proposers and seconders in each set of papers.

Meanwhile, a handout issued by the CM House said that Qaim Ali Shah informed the MPAs that Tarin was not only a renowned economist and financial expert of the country, he was also a member of the party. He expressed his gratitude to President and PPP Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari for selecting a suitable candidate for Sindh’s technocrat seat for the Senate. The CM said that under a joint strategy, they would elect Tarin as senator and there was a “strong hope” that he would be elected unopposed. Shah said that the MPAs of all parties would go to the Election Commission on Tuesday at 11:00am and would submit Tarin’s nomination papers.

MQM’s Shoaib Bukhari, Opposition leader Jam Madad Ali, PPP’s Mohammed Ayaz Soomro, Makhdoom Jamil Zaman, Jam Tamachi Unar, Nargis ND Khan, Humera Alwani, Najamuddin Abro, Farheen Mughal and others also congratulated Tarin, and appreciated the president’s decision to nominate him for the Senate. They hoped that Tarin would protect the legitimate interests of Sindh.

The meeting was also addressed by Tarin, who said that he belonged to Karachi as he was permanently settled in the city. He expressed his gratitude to the president, the CM Sindh and MPAs of Sindh Assembly for nominating him for the Senate.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=190244