Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday ended the two-hour-long Senate session with a blistering attack on Leader of the Opposition Yousaf Raza Gilani, calling the latter ‘compromised and sell-out’ amid clamour from the other side of the aisle in the House.

“I am warning you honourable members of the Senate, the leader of the opposition is a compromised leader… don’t rely on him,” he said in his speech before Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani adjourned the session till Friday evening.

To many people’s dismay, Gilani was absent during last Friday’s Senate session in which the SBP (Amendment) Bill was passed with a razor-thin margin as after a tie of 43 votes each Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani had voted in the treasury’s favour. FM Qureshi and Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry had separately thanked Gilani for “indirectly” supporting the government.

However, Gilani had responded to such reactions in his Senate speech on Monday with a resignation. “I am being accused by some turncoats who are accusing me of helping the government,” he had said in an apparent reference to Qureshi and Fawad – the former members of PPP.

The foreign minister was speaking on the policy statement pertaining to the passage of the SBP Amendment Bill 2021. But, he shifted gears and spoke about voting on the bill in the House before turning on the leader of the opposition in the Senate.

“It was a drama, he [Gilani] will stick to the seat of Leader of Opposition. He lied about not wanting to be an opposition leader, he will take his resignation back,” FM Qureshi said while responding to Gilani’s resignation letter.

Taking a jibe at the PPP leader’s appointment for the coveted seat, he said: “Is this house unaware of how the leader of the opposition was elected, by buying of votes. Isn’t his petition is being heard in the ECP aren’t they facing dates, delays?”

He wondered why the opposition could not appoint an experienced parliamentarian like Raza Rabbani or Sherry Rehman as the opposition leader.

Qureshi rejected the opposition’s criticism over the SBP (Amendment) Bill, saying that making the State Bank autonomous was akin to the economic responsibilities that were also fulfilled by the PPP and the PML-N in the past.

The government’s intention was to make the SBP autonomous and free from the government’s influence, he said, adding that the PM and the cabinet would have the authority to appoint the board of governors. “This institution is still under parliament and will be. Parliament is sovereign and will be. The SBP reports will come here and parliament will scrutinize it and we will try to apply it.”

He lamented that opposition leaders criticised the Senate chairman and alleged perhaps the latter had not reviewed Article 240 of the Constitution of Pakistan.

On the opposition leader’s reason for absence from the session, FM Qureshi said the whole country and many sections of the opposition benches were not satisfied with Gilani’s speech explanations.

He asked whether the opposition was so “naïve” that they were not aware of the legislation being debated and passed in the National Assembly as the opposition had complained of presenting the agenda late at night.

He added that the meeting with IMF was delayed to pass the bill from Senate despite getting a headway from the National Assembly.

Furthermore, Qureshi shared a statement by Senator Dilawar, an independent lawmaker. “They [opposition] called me and I came on their invitation but he [the opposition leader] himself was not here. I would have consulted if the opposition leader would have been here,” Qureshi quoted Dilawar as saying.

‘Not a level of foreign minister’

Reacting to Qureshi’s Senate speech, Gilani said the foreign minister committed contempt of parliament and it “was not” a speech befitting of a foreign minister.

“Without any reason, he stooped so low. May he be burst out now for my membership as a senator,” he said while talking to reporters in his room.

“He [Qureshi] was my parliamentary secretary for parliamentary affairs and I was the speaker and [former PM] Benazir said he [Qureshi] will be your parliamentary secretary and teach him rules,” Gilani said, adding that the foreign minister could not teach rules to them.