Speaker National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq finally constituted 40 standing committees including the powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC) after a delay of three months.
According to the official announcement of the National Assembly Secretariat, the Speaker finalized the names of the members of the committees in the light of the motion to be presented in the National Assembly on May 17.
A source in the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (N) told Dawn that according to the agreed formula, the opposition Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) will get the chairmanship of 10 committees including the PAC.
He said that apart from this, Muslim League (N) will get the chairmanship of 13 committees, while Pakistan People’s Party and Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) will get the chairmanship of 8 and 2 committees respectively, and the rest of the committees will be chaired. It will be divided among the parties involved in the ruling coalition.
Leader of Muslim League (N) said that PPP and MQM are demanding chairmanship of more committees than their share and negotiations are going on with them on this issue. It remains to be seen which committees will go to these parties.
Regarding the Public Accounts Committee, he said that the Muslim League (N) offered its chairmanship to the opposition Sunni Ittehad Council in accordance with the past tradition and in the light of the pact of democracy agreed between the PPP and the Muslim League (N). What is agreed?
It should be noted that PTI-SIC had initially nominated Sher Afzal Marwat for the post of Public Accounts Committee Chairman, but later decided to nominate Sheikh Waqas Akram for the post. Interestingly, The list of PAC members from the National Assembly Secretariat shows that Sher Afzal Marwat is not even a member of PAC.
According to the notification, the members of the Public Accounts Committee include Sardar Yusuf Zaman of Muslim League (N), Defense Minister Khawaja Asif, Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Junaid Anwar Chaudhry, Shaza Mansab Kharal, Raza Hayat Haraj and Rana Qasim Noon of People’s Party. Murtaza Mehmood, Shazia Murri, Syed Hussain Tariq, Syed Naveed Qamar and Hina Rabbani Khar, as well as opposition leader Umar Ayub Khan as an independent candidate, Sanaullah Mastikhel of the Sunni Union Council, Junaid Akbar, Riaz Khan, Waqas Akram, Aamir Dogar and Khawaja Shiraz Mehmood while Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan’s Amir Moin Pirzada and Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI-F) Shahida Begum are included.
Apart from this, the Chairman will also nominate 8 senators for the Senate Committee.
It was due to lack of understanding and some differences that even three months after Shahbaz Sharif was elected Prime Minister, the government and the opposition failed to agree on the formation and chairmanship of the committees.
According to the rules, the committees were to be constituted within 30 days after the election of the Prime Minister on March 3.
The delay in the formation of committees is not only a violation of the Assembly Rules, but it is also beginning to affect the work of legislation.
