ISLAMABAD: Efforts have been set in motion to break the logjam over constitution of all the 34 National Assembly standing committees as Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak and Speaker Asad Qaisar phoned Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader and former speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Monday to resolve the row.
In a chat with The News, Ayaz Sadiq confirmed the telephonic conversation and said they asked him to find a way out of the deadlock. He said he told them that in reality leader of the opposition and PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif did not want to be the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), but when some ministers started an unnecessary tirade against his candidacy, all the opposition parties decided to have him as the PAC head under all circumstances.
Ayaz Sadiq and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Syed Navid Qamar will hold a meeting with Khattak and Asad Qaisar on Thursday to take their telephonic dialogue further in a bid to tide over the disagreement, the former speaker said. He said the opposition parties’ clear stance was that they will not be part of any House body if Shahbaz Sharif was not accepted as PAC chairman. “I told them that the government side will be in majority in PAC, and Shahbaz Sharif as chairman being just one member will not be able do anything against the ruling coalition.”
When approached by this correspondent, noted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Sadaqat Abbasi said that the government was willing to make any opposition nominee the PAC chairman, who doesn’t have a tainted past. It is prepared to have even Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as the PAC head, he said adding that it will not accept Shahbaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari in any case because of their dubious past. Both the leaders face the possibility of conviction, he believed.
He said neither the Constitution nor the law or the rules provide that the PAC chairman should be taken from the opposition. He said that if the opposition insisted on Shahbaz Sharif’s name, the government would form the House committees on its own.
Meanwhile, the ruling coalition is allowed by the rules to do without the House bodies for legislation. Rule 122 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, the sponsor of a bill may move a motion in the House that the requirement of referring it to the standing committee concerned may be dispensed with. If such motion is carried, the bill would be considered to have been received back from the relevant committee [after consideration] on the day on which the motion is passed. Then, under rule 124, the member may move that the bill be taken into consideration at once or a date be fixed forthwith.
When the House bodies exist, it is provided that upon introduction, a bill, other than a Finance Bill, will stand referred to the standing committee concerned. The governing coalition has the requisite majority in the National Assembly to get a motion seeking doing away with the requirement of referring a bill to the relevant standing committee passed.
Constitution experts find committee system as the backbone of the parliamentary democracy and say not only the proposed legislation but several other issues are discussed threadbare in the House bodies for reporting backing to the legislature.
They agree that the ruling party may rely on rule 122 to avoid the House body concerned for taking up its legislative agenda, but say many other matters will remained un-attended if there were no committees in existence for any reason.
Referring to the rules, the experts said that the National Assembly or the speaker may also remit to the standing committee any subject or matter with which it is concerned and the House body will study it with a view to suggest legislation or making recommendations to the National Assembly.
Rule 200 says the House bodies have to be constituted within 30 days after the ascertainment of the Leader of the House (Imran Khan in this case). He was sworn in as prime minister on August 18.
In addition to the House bodies on PAC, rules of procedure and privileges, the House and Library, Government Assurances and Business Advisory, a standing committee for each federal ministry of the government is required to be formed. Each committee will deal with the subjects assigned, under the rules for the allocation and transaction of business of the government to the division or the ministry with which it is concerned or any other matter referred to it by the National Assembly. Any subject not so assigned or the subjects assigned to any ministry for which a House body has not been constituted will be dealt with by the standing committee dealing with law, justice and parliamentary affairs.