PAC chairmanship: It’s ‘logically wrong’ decision, says Fawad

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Thursday said it was logically wrong to make Shahbaz Sharif as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to look into projects undertaken by his elder brother and deposed prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif during his tenure. He said that PM had been wrongly suggested in this regard. He contended that the National Assembly appeared like a board of governors, where each day the opposition only talked about the NAB, delivered speeches, made hue and cry over accountability and then left the House. Talking to the media representatives outside the Parliament House, Fawad said even after the decision to appoint Shahbaz as the PAC chairman, the opposition was threatening that it won’t let the National Assembly function and impede constitution of the House standing committees.

The minister insisted that in his personal opinion, NA Speaker Asad Qaiser should show courage to constitute committees without the opposition and run the House, as the opposition would not let the House function.

“That is why, they have been asked to take a decision on their own regarding the PAC chairman. It has been their illegal and immoral demand,” he said.

This way, he cautioned, the masses won’t trust the National Assembly, as it continued to ignore their issues and problems and the opposition only talked about accountability.

“When a thief is arrested, he raises a hue and cry and sheds tears as though he were innocent. They should defend themselves in courts,” he said.

The minister noted that his party legislators were giving the opposition members an opportunity to speak in the National Assembly, who talked one-sided and then staged walkouts from the House.

He regretted that ‘awami issues’ were not being discussed in the National Assembly, whereas some individuals came to the House and raised their personal issues which was sheer wastage of time.