Ruling alliance to dominate post-poll Senate: PM.

ISLAMABAD -- Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday expressed confidence that the ruling alliance would have majority in the Senate after the forthcoming elections of the upper house of parliament.

'We will have a sizeable majority in the Senate in the next election,' the prime minister said during a meeting with his spokespersons.

Adviser to the PM on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan briefed the prime minister on the proposed legislation seeking holding of the Senate polls through open vote.

A participant of the meeting told Dawn that the prime minister was of the view that the government wanted to close the doors of horse-trading and corruption usually committed in the past during the Senate elections.

Says government wants to close doors on horse-trading, corruption committed in past during elections

He quoted clause 23 of the Charter of Democracy signed between the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in 2006 which also called for elimination of horse-trading and floor crossing. 'They [the opposition] had agreed to end horse-trading, but now they are opposing the government move to ensure open ballot in the Senate polls,' the prime minister was quoted as saying.

Adviser to the PM on Accountability Shahzad Akbar gave briefing on land grabbing in Punjab by PML-M leaders and financiers. On this, the prime minister said it had been unveiled that opposition parties were getting monetary benefits from Qabza mafias (land grabbers) and in return the previous regimes had ignored illegal occupation of state land. 'This had promoted a culture of corruption,' he added.

Spokesperson Shouzab Kanwal told Dawn that the prime minister insisted that all spokespersons and PTI leaders urge people to hate corruption and those committed it. 'In fact society as a whole accepted or legalised corruption that destroyed our social fabric,' PM Khan was quoted as saying.

Ms Kanwal said the prime minister directed the spokespersons 'not to lose dignity' while appearing in TV talk shows and always went there after through homework and study.

Earlier, addressing the launching ceremony of a docu-drama, 'Pani ke Pankh', the prime minister said Pakistanis shouldn't be concerned about creating a 'soft image' of their country only to win approval from the West, calling such a perception an 'inferiority complex'.

'Nation should instead strive for being seen as an independent nation which has confidence in itself and does not have to rely...