Ishaq Dar appointed as Presiding Officer for 1st Senate session

ISLAMABAD, April 02 (SABAH): President Asif Ali Zardari, on Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif’s advice, has appointed Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar as the Presiding Officer for the first session of the Senate of Pakistan.

According to a summary sent by the PM Office to President Asif Ali Zardari dated March 29, the tenures of the Senate chairman and deputy chairman expired on March 11.

The summary quoted the rules of procedure for the Senate: “The first meeting of the Senate for election of the chairman shall be presided over by the outgoing chairman or, in his absence, by a person nominated by the president, for the purpose, hereinafter in this rule and in rule 10 referred to as the presiding officer; provided that no person shall preside over the meeting for the election in which he himself is a candidate.”

The PMO summary then nominated Mohammad Isahq Dar to “preside over the first meeting of the new parliamentary year of the Senate for [the] election of chairman and deputy chairman”.

Subsequently, in a notification dated March 30, President Asif Ali Zardari approved PM Shehbaz Sharif’s advice.