Abbasi, Haideri refuse to accept Gillani as Senate's Leader of Opposition

• PML-N's Shahid Khaqan calls on JUI-F's Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, both agree PDM parties disappointed with the PPP's attitude.
• Abbasi, Haideri unanimously decide not to accept PPP's Yousaf Raza Gillani as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate.
• Both agree that a future summit be convened for PDM parties to formulate a strategy to bring in their own Leader of the Opposition.

LAHORE: PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and the JUI-F's Senator Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri have unanimously decided not to accept  PPP's Yousaf Raza Gillani as the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate.

The decision came during a Wednesday meeting to discuss the situation following Gillani's selection as the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate.

Abbasi — the secretary-general of the Opposition's anti-government coalition under the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) banner — had called on Maulana Haideri, his counterpart in the JUI-F, and inquired about the latter's party chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

Both agreed that all Opposition parties in the PDM were disappointed with the PPP's attitude.

The senior PML-N leader said a consultation on the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate would soon be held with other parties in the PDM.

The JUI-F leader opined that the PPP had "disappointed everyone" by seeking the Balochistan Awami Party's (BAP) support on the issue of the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate.

During the meeting, the two leaders agreed that the parties in the PDM would have to come up with a strategy to bring in their own Leader of the Opposition, for which a future summit should be convened.