ISLAMABAD: Despite endless confrontation and conflict, the ruling coalition and opposition parties have reached an accord to unanimously elect Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Rana Tanvir Hussain the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly.
Leader of the opposition and PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif had stepped down as the PAC chairman in June this year. Speaker Asad Qaisar has now accepted his resignation. The PAC is meeting anytime to choose Rana Tanvir as its next head.
“In fact, there has been no reluctance on the part of the ruling alliance to elect our choice, Rana Tanvir, as the next PAC chairman,” a senior PML-N leader told The News. “It has been agreed between the two sides that Rana Tanvir will replace Shahbaz Sharif.”
He said that being the consensus nominee of all the opposition parties Shahbaz Sharif will continue to work as the leader of the opposition. He said that being the majority party in the opposition grouping this office was given to the PML-N representative. In every standing committee and other forums of the National Assembly, the ruling coalition has the majority on the basis of its numerical strength. On the same principle, the opposition parties dominate the Senate committees.
When Shahbaz Sharif was elected the PAC chairman with the support of the members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its allies, certain ruling party openly objected to his selection on the ground that he can’t be allowed to carry out the accountability of the affairs of the previous PML-N government. Even Prime Minister Imran Khan also publicly raised severe reservations over Shahbaz Sharif’s choice.
A lot of pressure was built by certain aggressive PTI leaders for a long time to force Shahbaz Sharif to relinquish the office, but he didn’t do so then. Later, he relinquished the office when the furore had considerably subsided and nobody was talking about it.
The speaker, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Muhammad Khan had met the premier and prevailed upon him to let Shahbaz Sharif become the PAC chairman. However, some Federal Ministers particularly Fawad Chaudhry, who were not included in this decision-making discussion, had strongly opposed the move.
After resigning the position five months back, Shahbaz Sharif has not chaired any PAC meeting. Mostly its sub-committee are working, disposing of different assignments. Only in the first few months of his election, the opposition leader had elaborately conducted the PAC proceedings but refrained from its meeting when an objection was raised by the PTI about his presence as key issues taken up then pertained to the previous government.
The PML-N stalwart said that the opposition leader was now more busy as he has also to look after the treatment of deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif abroad apart from his other political engagements. He said that the timing of acceptance of the resignation was not surprising and it was according to the agreement with the government.
When the speaker accepted the resignation and Rana Tanvir is being elected in his place, it is no more an issue as to who should head the PAC because other political developments have overtaken such matters.
When the controversy over Shahbaz Sharif’s election the PAC chief intensified, some federal ministers had proposed that the government was ready to accept any nominee of the opposition in his place but the opposition leader.