MQM's newly-elected senator asks for fatwa to cast Senate vote during 'Iddat'

KARACHI: The MQM-P's newly-elected senator, Khalida Ateeb, has reached out to seminaries in the city for a fatwa — Islamic decree — on whether she can vote during the election of the Senate chairperson while observing her Iddat.

In Islamic practice, Iddat is a period of mourning that a woman observes after the death of her husband, for a period of four months.

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Senator Ateeb's circumstances have made her vote crucial for the election of the Senate chairperson, a post for which the PTI government has fielded Sadiq Sanjarani and Yousaf Raza Gillani has been nominated by the Opposition parties.

Sanjrani may be elected head of the House for a second consecutive term if is able to corral enough votes but the Opposition holds a slim majority in the Senate.

The PTI and its allies have a combined total of 46 senators who will stay on till 2024, while the PDM sans PML-N's Ishaq Dar boasts 48, leaving five of the 99 members to be accounted for.

These senators, therefore, will be the key to determining the final result.

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Consultation for the use of Ateeb's oath and vote is underway especially in light of the fact that the election for the Senate's new top people is an important contest between the PTI regime and the Opposition-led anti-government coalition under the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) banner.

Sources informed Geo News that MQM-P leader Kishwer Zehra contacted Ateeb on the party chief Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui's instructions and advised her to obtain a fatwa to end her iddat in the current circumstances.

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Speaking to Geo News, the senator — who was elected from Sindh on the reserved seat for women — said she had sought a fatwa from the Jamia Binoria Aalimiyah and Jamia Darululoom Karachi.

"I will make my decision in the light of the fatwa," Ateeb told Geo News.